IOWA LAKES FACILITIES EQUIPPED WITH
EMERGENCY MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

More than 30 employees of Iowa Lakes Community College will be better able to respond to cardiac emergencies; thanks to training they received on new equipment.

The staffers at Emmetsburg, Estherville and Spencer were recently educated on the operation of newly installed automated external defibrillators (AEDs).  The AEDs are part of the college's new public access defibrillation program, which teaches college volunteers to recognize a cardiac emergency and use the device to shock the heart into a regular rhythm.

AEDs have been ordered for Algona and Spirit Lake.  Staff will be trained at those locations and the new AEDs will be installed shortly after the first of the year.

The devices are mounted on the walls and are available for public use.

"The college worked with each local ambulance service as well as the American Heart Association on this project," said Steve Dobbins, EMS/Fire Programmer for Iowa Lakes.

The Continuing Education offices of the college provided the training.

AEDs now on the market are safe and easy to use, making it possible for non-medical personnel to be trained to provide rapid defibrillation.  More and more companies are taking this step since legislation providing limited liability for non-medical AED users was passed in Iowa (Good Samaritan law).

The American Heart Association recommends that any facility in which large groups of people congregate consider establishing a defibrillation program. It is estimated that establishing these defibrillation programs could help save as many as 40,000 lives per year nationwide.