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The University of Colorado School of Medicine plans to work with the FDA to develop a pilot registry in Denver to identify the location of AEDs in the community. Emergency dispatchers will have access to the registry and be able to provide callers with vital information.
"When a cardiac arrest or a heart event happens, minutes count at that point and so what the database allows us to do is take the 911 call and connect the caller with the closest AED," Dr. Chris Colwell, director of emergency medicine at Denver Health Medical Center, said.
Initially, the program will seek to identify AEDs in Denver, but it is hoped that eventually the registry can be expanded to cover the Front Range.
Cheryl Badger knows how important this registry can be. In 2006, her daughter Brianna would have benefitted from just such a registry.
"I basically turned the corner from the office and started to head up the stairs and she went into a cardiac arrest at age 3 and a half," Badger said.
They called 911, but when paramedics arrived it was too late for Brianna.
"If an automatic external defibrillator had been in place at that school and someone had known where it was, that it was registered to the City of Denver, we would have saved her life," Badger said.
She supports the AED registry and placement of the devices in public buildings. Her family will be hosting a fundraising event in February to purchase AED for schools in Colorado. The event, called "Save a Heart at the Sweet Hearts Ball," will be held Feb. 12 from 6 p.m. to 11 pm at the Renaissance Hotel, 3801 Quebec Street in Denver. All proceeds raised will be used to place AEDs in Colorado Schools. For ticket information, go to www.safety-store.org.
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