Matters Protect Your Family From Cardiac Arrest (NAPSA)—Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), a malfunction of the electrical rhythm of the heart, can strike anyone, at any time— including at home. The Problem Without CPR and an electrical jolt from an automated external defibrillator (AED) to restore normal rhythm to the heart, a victim of SCA is likely to die. Every year, hundreds of thousands suffer from SCA at home. In the U.S. alone, more than 326,000 people ofall ages experience SCA annually— nearly 1,000 per day—and 70 percent of those SCA attacks occur at home. Nine out of ten of the victims die. In fact, the number of people who die from SCA every year is roughly equivalent to the number of people who die from Alzheimer’s, assault with firearms, diabetes, HIV, house fires, motor vehicle accidents, suicides and breast, cervical, prostate and colo- rectal cancers combined. Surviving SCAis largely dependent on how quickly a victim is defibrillated. For each minute that CPR and treatment with an AED are delayed, survival declines by 7 to 10 percent. After ten minutes without treatment, few victims survive. Protecting Your Family Fortunately, families can take action to help protect themselves. AEDsare available to the general public through certain online and “brick-and-mortar” retailers. Purchasing an AED for home use may increase families’ “peace of mind” by providing a level of protection against SCA. All AEDsoffer the basic protection of defibrillation in the event of SCA. The available models do differ in certain respects, however. Here are some questions to con- sider when thinking about buying an AEDfor homeuse: * Howeasy is the AED to use in an emergency? *Does it have automated guidance to “talk you through”helping a victim? * Does it protect against a shock when shockis not appropriate? Having a defibrillator at home may savethelife of a loved one. Can it be used to defibrillate children and infants? What kind of training is provided to prepare you fully in case of an emergency? EmpowerYourself: Lead the Wayto Savea Life One easy-to-use AED that provides unique support for the ordinary person in the extraordinary moment is the Philips HeartStart Home AED. With Life Guidance, this AED acts as your personal coach to guide you through a cardiac emergency with a simple, step-by-step process. Adaptive instructions and intelligent sensors keep you on track to automatically deliver the right therapy, helping give you the confidence to save the life of someone in your family. Families Helping Themselves Quick response to SCA by a family member using an AED may make the difference in someone’s life. Having an AED at home may save the life of a parent, child, spouse or grandparent. You can get more information about Philips HeartStart Home AEDs at www.philips.com/usaed. Philips HeartStart Home AEDsare sold online by Costco (www.costco. com/Philips-HeartStart-HomeDefibrillator.product.11323972.html) and by Amazon (www.amazon.com/s/ ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_11?url=searchalias%@3Dhpc&field-keywords=philips +aed&sprefix=philips+AED%2Caps %2C160).
