Archive - Feb 9, 2009

The race was on. A 8-year-old third-grader jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room while his classmates cheered him on. Less than a minute later, he dashed back with an AED. The classmates applauded. 

When he flung open the door of the cabinet housing the AED (automated external defibrillator) it set off an alarm and red flashing light to alert staff of the emergency. If it had been a real emergency, these actions could have helped save someone's life.

 Senator Tracy Steele, from North Little Rock, has introduced legislation providing funding for CPR training and AEDs (automatic external defibrillators) in all schools.

"The Antony Hobbs III" act  is in honor of 17-year old Parkview High Junior Antony Hobbs,  who collapsed during a basketball game in 2008. An autopsy revealed Hobbs had an enlarged heart. An AED on the premises could have improved his chances of survival.

The funds are expected to come from a new tobacco tax.

For 26 years Italy has had a heart screening program. By law, every Italian athlete, from elementary school through the pros, must have an EKG before he or she can play sports. Those with abnormal EKGs got other tests to see if their hearts are structurally abnormal.

Dr. Antonio Pellaccia of the Italian Institute of Sports Medicine and Science, an arm of the Italian National Olympic Committee, and his colleagues identified 81 athletes who had severely abnormal tracings from the 12,550 screening EKGs. Fourteen of them were Olympic athletes.