Police Office Uses Portable Defibrillator To Save Life; Second "Save" For IU Study

INDIANAPOLIS—The second "save" of a cardiac arrest victim using a portable automated external defibrillator (AED) has been recorded according to researchers at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at Indiana University School of Medicine. The save occurred in Plymouth, Ind., by a Marshall County Sheriff's Department officer on May 28. The victim is expected to be released from St. Joseph Hospital in South Bend sometime next week.

IU School of Medicine began a study last year known as PARADE (Police as Responder Automated Defibrillation Evalution) to evaluate the effect of training and equipping police officers in designated counties of Indiana with AEDs. An AED automatically analyzes the heart rhythm, chooses the right amount of electricity to deliver and coaches the operator with audio and visual prompts.

Cecil Robert "Bob" Snider, an appliance repairman, went into cardiac arrest at approximately 11 a.m., while working at a client's home. The client called 911 and began CPR. Within seven minutes, the Marshall County Police Department arrived at the residence and the first shock was delivered by officer Ward Byers within the next 60 seconds. EMS personnel arrived immediately after the police department and delivered the second shock using the police officer's AED. In addition, the EMS personnel administered four more shocks with their own defibrillator and also provided medication in order to stabilize the patient.

Snider, who has a history of atrial fibrillation, was transported to the St. Joseph Hospital in Marshall County emergency department. He was admitted to the Cardiac Car Unit at approximately 2 p.m where he remained unresponsive until Sunday, May 31 at about 9 p.m. By last Monday, Snider was sitting up and speaking although he was somewhat disoriented and appeared to have suffered some short term memory loss. He was later transported to St. Joseph Hospital of South Bend.

The Marshall County Police Department was equipped with AEDs through PARADE in January. This case represents the first successful resuscitation by the Marshall County Police Department. Upon recovery and hospital discharge, Snider will be the second person resuscitated by a police officer during the PARADE study, increasing the survival rate of the study to 25 percent. The first "save" occurred in Delaware County on January 31. The patient, an off-duty Muncie police officer, was resuscitated by a Delaware County police officer and released from Ball Memorial Hospital on February 7.

The four counties currently enrolled in the PARADE study to date are Hamilton, Shelby, Delaware and Marshall counties, with Howard County joining the program on June 10. More than a dozen other counties have expressed interest in participating in the study.

Sudden cardiac arrest is the single leading cause of death in the U.S., striking about 1,000 Americans each day. Whether victims survive sudden death depends on how quickly they can be defibrillated. The shorter the time from collapse to defibrillation, the better the chances of survival. If defibrillation is delayed for more than 10 minutes, survival rates drop to virtually zero.

The rationale for the PARADE study is that police officers often can be on the scene more rapidly than traditional EMS responders. Preliminary data from the PARADE trial suggests that police officers arrive at the scene an average of four minutes quicker than EMS. It is believed that the addition of police AED capabilities may help improve the rate of survival from cardiac arrest in Indiana, which is close to the national avearage of less than five percent. In other parts of the country with similar programs, survival rates of 30 to 45 percent have been achieved.

The PARADE trial is supported by the Asmund S. Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine, the Medtronic Foundation Heart/Rescue Program, Guidant Corporation, Laerdal Medical Corporation, Physio-Control Corporation, Heartstream and SurvivaLink Corporation. For more information about the PARADE study or how to participate, contact Mary Newman, research coordinator at 317-630-7145.

Contact: Ellen Gullett
317-274-7722
egullett@iupui.edu

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