ACR 23, Salas. AED Awareness Week.
This measure would designate the week of June 1 through June 7, 2015, as Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Awareness Week in California.
WHEREAS, AED is an acronym used as an abbreviation for Automated External Defibrillator; and
WHEREAS, AEDs are portable medical devices that use electrodes to automatically analyze and detect cardiac arrhythmia of sudden cardiac arrest patients; and
WHEREAS, AEDs are able to produce a shock that stops the heart and allows it to return to a normal rhythm, a process called defibrillation; and
WHEREAS, AEDs are used in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest, which is a condition in which the heart suddenly stops pumping blood and quivers erratically; and
WHEREAS, About 360,000 cases of sudden cardiac arrest occur yearly, typically without any warning signs; and
WHEREAS, More than 7,000 children and young adults experience sudden cardiac arrest in the United States each year; and
WHEREAS, The interval between a 911 call and the arrival of emergency medical services personnel is typically longer than five minutes and achieving high survival rates therefore depends on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and AED use; and
WHEREAS, The window of opportunity for using an AED is very small. Defibrillation is more successful if performed within five minutes of the cardiac arrest. Studies show that the chances of survival decrease 7 to 10 percent with every minute that passes after the person’s heart stops beating; and
WHEREAS, Optimal AED placement allows a person to grab the AED and return to the victim; and
WHEREAS, Given that a person’s chances of surviving a sudden cardiac arrest decrease so rapidly, it is important that Californians are aware of the importance of AEDs and their life-saving potential; and
WHEREAS, The American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, and the National Safety Council prepare related public awareness and training campaigns on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and AED use, to be held during the first week in June of each year; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the week of June 1 through June 7, 2015, be designated as Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Awareness Week in California; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
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