UTHSC will host its annual CPR/ Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training course for faculty, students and staff that will teach them how to be successful first responders in the event of heart emergencies. Two classes will be held in the Student-Alumni Center Dining Hall at 8:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30.
The need for the training course was noted in 2010 when Kelly Rogers, PharmD, FCCP, FACC, professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science and AED campus coordinator, noticed that there were only a couple of AEDs on campus. “I expressed this concern to my CPR instructors at the time,” she said. “We met with Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operations Officer Dr. Ken Brown and proposed the campus purchase AEDs and he agreed and graciously offered to purchase AEDs for our campus.”
An AED provides an electric shock to a victim of sudden cardiac arrest if needed. It does this automatically but users need to know how to use the AED as well as how to perform the lifesaving skills of CPR.
The American Heart Association encourages the use of AEDs to increase survival rates of people with who have heart-related emergencies. CPR should be initiated immediately after a person collapses with cardiac arrest and use of the AED should ideally be within 3-5 minutes to ensure a successful outcome for the victim. UTHSC now has 48 AEDS across campus as well as in all police vehicles. Most of them are mounted in white cabinets on main floors, near security desks, or near elevators.
Dr. Rogers works with the Office of Safety Affairs and Facilities to do annual inspections of the AEDs on campus. She also leads the CPR/ AED course each fall. CPR certifications should be renewed every two years. The certification is good for two years so those who last took this class in 2016 should renew their training. This course does not meet the CPR requirement for health care providers.
“To have AEDs in your institution, you have to teach the employees how to use them,” she said. “It would be ideal if everyone on campus knows how to do CPR and use an AED. At the very least, there should be employees from every building, department, and college who are properly trained. It could be the difference between life and death.”