I-Team: Mass. lawmaker files bill to create AED registry
BOSTON - Sports fans remember watching the terrifying moments during an NFL game last January, when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest. He was brought back to life with CPR and the use of what's called an Automated External Defibrillator or an AED.
"What these AEDs do, Automated External Defibrillators is, you put the leads on the person's heart and then you hit a button and it does the rest," CBS Chief Medical Reporter Dr. Jon Lapook said. "It will not shock you if you are in a normal rhythm... you're not going to do harm."
Hamlin was one of the lucky ones. The American Heart Association says nationally, 10% of people survive a cardiac arrest outside of hospital setting. Jim Liston beat the odds. Last December while skating at the Burbank Ice Arena in Reading, he collapsed without any warning.
Liston tells the I-Team, "The last thing I remember was tying my skates in the locker room." Surveillance footage captured the dramatic moments on the ice when the rink's operations manager, James Brown, and office manager, Melissa Vecchio, sprang into action, administering CPR and using the AED to shock Liston back to life.
Liston is now recovering from heart surgery and is grateful to be alive. "So many people that have this happen in these types of situations they don't survive," Liston said. "I just had all the right people at the right time in the right place."
Last fall in Plymouth, there was a similar situation. First responders, taking a martial arts class, noticed their classmate was in cardiac arrest. Knowing where the nearest AED was located, a nearby Planet Fitness, they were able to save his life.
Massachusetts law only requires AEDs in schools and health clubs. Allyson Perron Drag with the American Heart Association tells the I-Team, Massachusetts has "a long way to go in terms of defibrillator placement. Making sure that they're more publicly accessible in many places. That people know where they are. That people are trained to use them. That they are available in case of an emergency."
Senator Michael Moore (D-Worcester) has filed a bill that would do just that. Proposing legislation to create an AED registry giving 911 operators the ability to have that information at their fingertips. "If this goes through, emergency dispatch would have a list of the locations," Moore said. "So, now if I'm 100 yards from that location, it could be right in the building right next to me. And instead of waiting three minutes, five minutes, I may be able to have access to that AED in one minute."
Liston recently came back to the rink to thank the heroes. Telling the I-Team, because of what they did, his children have a dad, and his grandchildren have a grandfather. "Right now, I feel like a million bucks," Liston said.
The legislation is currently in committee and could be voted on as early as next week. Senator Moore says the legislation would not cost much to implement. It only requires businesses, cities, and towns to register the locations of their AEDs into a database.