About AEDs
If you’d like to take a class about AEDs, visit our health and safety courses page.
In the time it takes you to read this information, sudden cardiac arrest will have claimed another victim. Statistics show that more than 200,000 Americans die of sudden cardiac arrest every year. Up to 50,000 of these deaths could have been prevented if someone had initiated the Cardiac Chain of Survival, and an automated external defibrillator (AED) had been available for immediate use at the time of the emergency.
The American Red Cross has a vision of one person in every household being trained in First Aid and CPR lifesaving skills, and all Americans being within four minutes of an AED and someone trained to use it in the event of sudden cardiac arrest.
All American Red Cross Adult and Child CPR courses contain defibrillation skills and information. We invite you to learn more about the technology and training that could save the life of a co-worker, family member or a friend by contacting your local American Red Cross chapter.
For more information, call 704.347.8364.
Quick Facts
- Sudden cardiac death from coronary heart disease occurs over 600 times per day in the United States.
- Heart attacks are occurring more frequently in those under the age of 40 than a decade ago.
- More than 90 percent of the 220,000 annual sudden cardiac arrests (SCAs) occur outside the hospital setting, and most of the victims never receive the only proven therapy that may save their lives.
- The broad deployment of AEDs among trained responders will help save more lives in office buildings, shopping malls, stadiums and other places where large
numbers of people gather, preventing as many as 50,000 deaths annually in the United States. - Studies have demonstrated that, with early defibrillation, chances for survival rise from five percent to more than 45 percent, with as little as one minute making a difference.
- AEDs could save as many as 50,000 of the 220,000 lives lost each year to sudden cardiac arrest, the Red Cross continues to advocate for increased public AED access and training.
- AEDs are proven to be safe, reliable and effective in preventing death from sudden cardiac arrest.
- Early defibrillation, in conjunction with CPR, is a critical link in the Cardiac Chain of Survival. When sudden cardiac arrest strikes, seconds mean the difference between life and death. With each minute of elapsed time before defibrillation, the survival rate diminishes by 10 percent.
- From 1998 to June 2000, the Red Cross trained 80,000 people in the use of AEDs and nearly 30,000 instructors to teach AED skills in courses.
- AED information will be included in all Red Cross courses that teach Adult CPR, and an option for training will be available. This will help get even more lifesaving information to the more than 4 million people who take Red Cross CPR annually.
- By unanimous vote, the Senate passed the Community Access to Emergency Defibrillation Act of 2001 (Community AED Act). The Community AED Act will help strengthen the chain by making resources available to local communities to purchase and place automated external defibrillators (AEDs).