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News

UH keeps life savers ready

UHPD, Athletics have defibrillators on hand in case 
of sudden massive heart attack

by SARAH TRESSLER
The Daily Cougar

The recent deaths of four high school athletes prompted the University Interscholastic League to require all member high schools to have at least one defibrillator for use in the case of sudden cardiac arrest, but here at the University, a supply of the devices has been on hand for some time.

"We've had ours several years already," Mike O'Shea, UH's head athletics trainer, said. "We purchased defibrillators five or six years ago. This year we have eight." 

All UH Police Department patrol cars are equipped with automated external defibrillators as well.

"Each patrol car has an AED," UHPD Capt. Brad Wigtil said.  "The AEDs are regularly checked to ensure they are working."

In the wake of the recent deaths of four student athletes during or shortly after physical drills, the UIL Legislative Council passed a rule that requires all UIL member high schools to have at least one AED on campus. The measure will take effect on Aug. 1 of next year -- just in time for football season.

Sudden cardiac arrest kills 450,000 people in the U.S. each year, according to the American Heart Association.

That was the case for the four Houston-area student athletes who died suddenly within the span of a month at the start of this year's fall sports season, the Houston Chronicle reported. 

Westlake High School football player Matt Nader was revived by an AED after he collapsed on the sidelines during a game on Sept. 22, The Austin-American Statesman reported. Doctors who were present when Nader collapsed did not detect a pulse on the senior captain and offensive tackle before they hooked him up to the AED.

Nader now has an AED surgically implanted in his chest. He can no longer play football, but his life was saved that night because a defibrillator was available at the game.

AEDs are computerized devices that work by detecting ventricular fibrillation, a condition in which the heart quivers and cannot pump blood. If ventricular fibrillation is detected by the AED, the device will prompt the user to deliver an electric shock. The shock will temporarily stop the heart, which allows it to resume a normal rhythm.

AEDs will only prompt a shock if it detects a rhythm that can be alleviated by shocking the victim.

In the event that a victim of sudden cardiac arrest does not fully recover, individuals who provide emergency treatment with AEDs are protected by national "good Samaritan" laws.

So far, the defibrillators located in campus patrol vehicles and at the UH Athletics Department have not been used. 

"We've never had to use them once," O'Shea said. "Hopefully, knock on wood, we won't have to."

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