State officials hope that more than 200 defibrillators being distributed to small Oklahoma communities will save lives.
The devices, which analyze heart rhythms and deliver electric currents to victims' hearts, will be taken within two weeks to cities with populations smaller than 5,000, Gov. Brad Henry and other officials said Monday.
There, police, firefighters, sheriffs and Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers will use the defibrillators on community members, especially in medical emergencies, officials said. The defibrillators, which will come with instructional recordings, would work especially well in mobile emergency-response units, officials said.
State Health Commissioner Mike Crutcher said cardiac arrest patients need defibrillation within five minutes.
"Only one of 20 victims of sudden cardiac arrest survives, yet many of these victims could be saved with early CPR and early defibrillation," Crutcher said.
Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in North America, Crutcher said. Oklahoma ranks third in the country for cardiovascular disease deaths.
Most of the 250,000 Americans who die of sudden cardiac arrest each year pass away before reaching a hospital, the American Heart Association said.
A $240,000 federal grant from the Health Resources Services Administration paid for the defibrillators. The state received a $238,000 grant last year and bought 120 defibrillators for rural communities.
Crutcher said some of the 120 defibrillators distributed last year have been credited with saving several Oklahomans.
The defibrillators will be distributed through the 11 councils of government in Oklahoma.
