Craig Handl, a presumably healthy 14-year-old boy, was playing basketball with a few friends during recess. Suddenly Craig fell forward on the ground. His friends were worried that he might have broken a bone. As they approached him, they realized it was much worse. Craig had stopped breathing. Within minutes the paramedics were called and they arrived on the scene to find Craig still not breathing and without a pulse. Luckily for Craig the paramedics acted quickly in administering the one thing that could save Craig's life. What saved Craig's life was not a well-trained paramedic, and it wasn't the critical technique of CPR. It was a small laptop sized device that could be easily operated by a group of sixth-graders. This wonderful miracle of a machine is an automated external defibrillator or (AED). This technology is not new; it's actually over 5 years old. What is new however, is its use on young people. With increased numbers of teenagers participating in sports and athletics a new category of cardiac arrest victims has arisen. In fact Woman's Day 4-2-02 reports "a recent study shows an alarming jump in the past decade in the rate of teens aged 15 to 19 who die from sudden cardiac arrest." Ironically, technology is available that could dramatically reduce the number of teen cardiac-related deaths. Sadly, that technology is not being utilized effectively. Luckily, this is a problem we can solve, by first diagnosing the need for AED's where children play, second placing electrodes on society to understand why? and finally shocking American society to save America's youth.
Cardiac arrest is a well-known phrase in American society. In T.V. shows such as E.R., Scrubs and Presidio Med, patients in cardiac arrest are rolled in on stretchers. The patients are older, usually in their 40's or late 50's. Tragically, cardiac arrest in now killing America's youth. The first problem is that cardiac arrests in teenagers, is different than a heart attack.