Donation Intended to Help Fight Growing Sudden Cardiac Arrest Problem in Teens
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Mar 15, 2001--Medtronic Physio-Control, a unit of Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT), announced today that Tenet HealthSystem Pennsylvania and MCP Hahnemann University will donate 14 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to Philadelphia-area schools during a special presentation tomorrow morning at The Franklin Institute. The donation of the Medtronic Physio-Control LIFEPAK(R) 500 AED devices is a response to a growing concern about adolescent deaths associated with sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) during sporting events.
The presentation is part of a combined effort by Tenet, MCP Hahnemann University and Medtronic Physio-Control, manufacturer of the LIFEPAK 500 AED, to highlight the need for greater adoption in the Philadelphia area of the lifesaving technology available through AEDs.
The following Philadelphia-area high schools are recipients of the AEDs:
-- South Philadelphia High School, from Graduate Hospital;
-- Roxborough High School and Overbrook High School, from MCP Hospital;
-- Frankford High School, from Parkview Hospital;
-- Christopher Columbus Charter, Benjamin Franklin High School and Roman Catholic High School and St. Joseph`s Prep School,from Hahnemann University Hospital;
-- Cheltonham High School and Cardinal Dougherty High School, from Elkins Park Hospital;
-- William Tennent High School, from Warminster Hospital;
-- Kensington High School, from St. Christopher`s Hospital for Children;
-- Martin Luther King High School and Father Judge High School, on behalf of all the hospitals.
''Tenet saw a need in the community and stepped forward to address that need,'' said state Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia. ''This donation might someday save the life of a young person. I commend the company for being a good corporate citizen. Let`s hope this is the first step toward placing defibrillators in schools all over the city.''
Medtronic Physio-Control will be providing logistical support in the delivery of the AEDs and in training school personnel to use them. The company also is donating two trainer AEDs that will be used to demonstrate the proper procedure for deploying the units in the event of SCA.
''We realized there was an unmet need in the community -- sudden cardiac arrest has been increasing significantly among students,'' said Barry A. Wolfman, senior vice president of operations for Tenet HealthSystem`s Pennsylvania Region. ''We hope the donation will call attention to the importance of having AEDs on site at high school sporting events along with students and faculty trained to use the devices.''
''The death of a child from sudden cardiac arrest is particularly tragic, especially if it can be prevented by early CPR and defibrillation,'' said Dick Martin, president, Medtronic Physio-Control. ''We are eager to join with Tenet Healthcare in making the LIFEPAK 500 AED available to local Philadelphia schools and to spreading the word that sudden cardiac arrest need not be an automatic death sentence for children or adults.'' The LIFEPAK 500 device, the world`s leading brand of AED, is small, portable and easy to use by minimally trained individuals, including students.
Depending on the cause of the SCA, survivors may need to be referred to a heart rhythm specialist for evaluation of their risk and for possible prescription of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
An Indiscriminate Killer
One of the nation`s leading killers, SCA can strike anyone, anywhere and at any time, without regard to age or apparent health. It is usually caused by ventricular fibrillation, an ineffective quivering of the heart muscle that makes it unable to pump blood throughout the body. Often cardiac arrest in children is secondary to respiratory distress and/or trauma to the chest rather than due to primary cardiac factors. Although the causes in children may be different, the effect is the same: once blood stops circulating, victims quickly lose consciousness and will die within minutes if they don`t receive effective treatment. Each day about 600 Americans suffer from sudden cardiac arrest - usually away from a hospital. More than 95 percent of them die, in many cases, because lifesaving defibrillators arrive on the scene too late, if at all.
Survival rates from SCA drop about 10 percent with each passing minute before defibrillation. AEDs such as the LIFEPAK 500 device provide brief, but powerful, electrical stimulation to the chest, interrupting the ventricular fibrillation and helping to restore the heart`s natural rhythm. Voice and text prompts give step-by-step instructions to the lay responder about what to do if defibrillation is needed.
SCA on the Increase Among Children
The general pediatric population has traditionally been assumed to be at low risk for ventricular fibrillation. But, the true prevalence of ventricular fibrillation as a precipitating factor in SCA in children is not known, as early assessment of cardiac rhythm often is either unreliable or not reported. In children without known congenital heart disease, the risk is thought to be low, but not insignificant.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported an increase in the number of deaths from SCA in young people between the ages of 15 and 34 years. CDC researchers found that the number of deaths in this age group increased 10 percent between 1989 and 1996. The report also notes that the death rate from SCA increased by 30 percent in young women for the same time period.
''We can`t fully explain this increase (in death from sudden cardiac arrest) among young people, particularly young women,'' CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan said in a statement. ''However, behaviors such as smoking cigarettes, obesity, and lack of physical activity are high among adolescents. Poor recognition of heart events in younger patients and delayed application of cardiopulmonary resuscitation or defibrillation may also be contributing to this increase.''
It is important to note that SCA is not the same as a heart attack. SCA is commonly associated with heart rhythm abnormalities, whereas a heart attack involves a blockage in the coronary arteries that obstructs the flow of blood. A heart attack can result in damage to the heart muscle and is often preceded by symptoms such as pain or heaviness in the chest. A heart attack can be treated through drugs, changes in lifestyle, and/or coronary bypass surgery. By contrast, SCA has no symptoms and strikes its victims without warning, and the only effective treatment for it is defibrillation.
Project ADAM Focuses Public Awareness
In the greater Milwaukee area, seven adolescent athletes have suffered from sudden cardiac arrest since January 1999. Six of these teens died. The seventh, a 14-year-old who received immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and rapid access to an AED, survived. These and other recent adolescent SCA deaths, including two among Philadelphia-areas teens, have stimulated public awareness concerning the need for access to early defibrillation.
Out of concern for the growing number of children dying of SCA, programs such as Wisconsin`s Project ADAM (Automatic Defibrillators in Adam`s Memory) have sprung up to bring defibrillation capabilities to all high schools in the state by providing a comprehensive resource for schools interested in starting defibrillator programs.
To date, 35 high schools in Wisconsin have self-sustaining defibrillator programs with one or more devices as well as personnel trained to use them. In addition, schools are increasingly offering CPR programs, including use of AEDs, as part of the school curriculum.
Tenet HealthSystem Pennsylvania, part of the Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC), owns and operates seven Philadelphia-area hospitals including Elkins Park Hospital, Graduate Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, MCP Hospital, Parkview Hospital, St. Christopher`s Hospital for Children and Warminster Hospital. MCP Hahnemann University is managed by Drexel University.
Tenet Healthcare, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 110 acute care hospitals with 26,914 beds and numerous related health-care services. The company employs approximately 103,500 people serving communities in 17 states and services its hospitals from a Dallas-based operations center. Tenet`s name reflects its core business philosophy: the importance of shared values among partners -- including employees, physicians, insurers and communities -- in providing a full spectrum of health care. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.
Medtronic Physio-Control, headquartered in Redmond, WA, is a unit of Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, the world`s leading medical technology company, providing lifelong solutions for people with chronic disease. Medtronic Physio-Control`s Internet address is www.medtronicphysiocontrol.com
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