March 6, 2011 - Student firefighters at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo., used CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED) to save a fellow student's life. Twenty-one-year-old Walter Watts collapsed on campus, and a professor called the student firefighters to the scene. Gavin Harnstrom and Jessica Messer found Watts and immediately began CPR. They used the AED Plus to analyze the patient and deliver a shock.
The average survival rate from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year is 7%.1 If an AED is used by a bystander, the rate increases to 38%.2
1 American Heart Association. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2009 Update. Dallas, Texas: American Heart Association, 2009.2 Weisfeldt ML, Sitlani CM, Ornato JP, et al., on behalf of the ROC Investigators. J Am Coll Cardiol 2010;55:1713-1720.
Related stories:
Ontario Student Saved on College Campus with Bystander CPR, AED PlusMissouri Elementary School Teacher Revived Using AED PlusTennessee School AED Legislation Introduced Following Middle School Student Death