Dear Editor:
As American Heart Association volunteers, board members, physicians and concerned New Jersey citizens, we urge support and passage of New Jersey Senate Bill S-2567. If passed, this legislation could over time save untold number of New Jersey lives by requiring all health clubs and fitness centers to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on site and staff properly trained to use AEDs.
According to a study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, health clubs/fitness centers are among the top 10 public places with the highest occurrence of sudden cardiac arrest (“sudden death”), which is different than a heart attack.
In March 22002, a joint scientific statement for the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association urged fitness clubs throughout the country to install defibrillators and train staff to use them.
The American Heart Association has called sudden cardiac arrest a major unresolved public health issue. Sudden cardiac arrest, sometimes referred to as “sudden death” is the number one cause of death in this country. The AHA estimates that at least 250,000 people die every year from sudden cardiac arrest. Few victims of cardiac arrest survive after 10 minutes. The national survival rate from cardiac arrest is approximately 8 percent. Surviving cardiac arrest is all about time.
The number of Americans who exercise regularly at fitness clubs has increased steadily in recent years, as has their age. It’s time for all NJ health clubs and fitness centers to be better prepared for cardiac and other medical emergencies. The AHA is aware of at least seven documented lives that have been saved in NJ during the past four years at health clubs and fitness centers equipped with an AED program. However, those health clubs/fitness centers are in the minority in the Garden State. The vast majority of clubs are not prepared with defibrillator programs.
The cost to purchase a defibrillator, once $3,500 or more, has now dropped below $1,500 making AEDs affordable for nearly everyone. A commercial treadmill might cost $4,500 to $8,000. Surely the cost of saving a life is worth the investment of an AED. NJ PAD (public access defibrillation) legislation, signed into public law on March 8, 1999, features Good Samaritan immunity, which provides immunity from liability to individuals and organizations that act in good faith while using an AED or implementing an AED program in an attempt to save a life.
Surviving sudden cardiac arrest is all about time. The goal of the AHA is that for anyone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, Early 9-1-1, Early CPR and Early Defibrillation will occur in the first five minutes before brain damage begins. Citizens deserve proper safety and protection in their health clubs. We urge swift passage of Senate Bill S-2567. Help strengthen NJ’s “chain of survival” and improve the chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest.
Dr. Poonam Alaigh, President
Dr. Perry Weinstock, President
American Heart Association