Most of you have heard by now that it is a good idea to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) in your fitness facility. In fact, many states require AEDs in fitness centers, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, Louisiana, Oregon, Arkansas, Indiana, and Washington, D.C.
What you may not realize is that having an AED could save your own life. In a strange twist of fate, one of the inventors of the AED had his life saved by one about 30 years later.
Chris Nefcy, an electrical engineer and software programmer, served as a consultant when First Medic created the first AED for public use. While playing basketball at PRO Club in Bellevue, Wash., in 2006, Nefcy had a cardiac arrest. Two club staff members started CPR, then hooked him up to an AED, which got his heart going. Says Nefcy in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “I think it’s a cool story that something I helped build saved my life years later.”
While you didn’t help build the AED, having one in your fitness center could end up saving a life — even your own. Do you have a life-saving AED story from your fitness center? Do you even have an AED?
For more information on AEDs in fitness facilities, go to Fitness Management’s Article Archive.
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