SCA Foundation to Celebrate by Honoring the Heroes Who Saved Maxwell King

October 1, 2008 – PITTSBURGH – Congress has declared October “National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month” in an effort to raise awareness about the nation’s leading cause of death. The resolution “calls upon the people of the U.S. to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities.”

“We applaud Congress for taking this landmark action,” said David Belkin, Esq., of Bethesda, Maryland, a recent survivor of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation board member. “Thousands of lives will be saved every year as a result.”

Hypothermia can kill. It most often afflicts people who have been shipwrecked or lost in the woods. It isn’t a treatment you would expect to receive in hospital. It is, however, becoming a common and useful method to prevent severe brain damage in patients that have suffered unconsciousness due a lack of oxygenated blood—such as those who have suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.

This article shall explore the what, when, why and how, of this (relatively) new therapy.

What

The term is not that common, but usually understood by the general public. It comes from hypo - meaning below, and the Greek thermē - for heat. It describes a normally dangerous situation where the body temperature is lower than normal. (There is also another very similar word hyperthermia, which has the same origins, except hyper means beyond, and describes higher than normal body temperature.)

On Monday, the Senate passed S. Con. Res. 93 by unanimous consent, supporting the goals and ideals of "National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month." 

The House followed suit by passing H. Con. Res. 393 by a voice vote on Thursday.

Both Representatives Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Michael Burgess (R-TX) spoke in favor of the resolution. The  legislation is designed to focus the nation on a leading cause of death in the U.S.: sudden cardiac arrest.

The SCA Foundation is a member of the SCA Coalition, which has advocated for this legislation. The Foundation plans an awards dinner on October 29th to highlight National SCA Awareness Month.

WASHINGTON, D.C. —The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today announced it will install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in all agency facilities with 50 or more employees during the next year.

“Our focus on aviation safety includes the safety and well-being of our own employees. The unexpected and sudden moments in which defibrillation can be effective require quick thought and decisive action — traits the FAA workforce is famous for,” said FAA Acting Administrator Robert A. Sturgell. “Together our labor groups and FAA management have made a very positive step to ensure our employees have enhanced safety in the workplace, and I applaud all parties for bringing this about.”

Sturgell also singled out Rep. John Kline of Minnesota for his continuing interest in bringing AEDs to FAA facilities.

September 24, 2008--An analysis of emergency medical services-treated cardiac arrest outcomes in 10 areas in North America finds a five-fold difference in survival rates, according to a study in the Sept. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Arthur B. Sanders and Dr. Karl B. Kern of The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center write that "this wide variability in outcome emphasizes the pressing need for each community to first ‘know its numbers,' then concentrate on improving survival rates by focusing on locally identified problem areas within the chain of survival.