A 10% chance for survival. Fort Worth expects this tool will change the odds

About one-quarter of Fort Worth Police patrol cars will soon be equipped with automated external defibrillators, a tool that can be used to save lives when a cardiac arrest strikes.

Ultimately, the department hopes to equip all of its 450 patrol cars with AEDs so that officers can respond in the event of a cardiac arrest, said Cynthia Wood, public information officer for the department.

Cardiac arrest occurs when a person’s heart stops beating unexpectedly, which in turn stops blood flow to the brain and other organs. It is different from a heart attack, which occurs when there is a blockage in blood flow to the heart. The American Heart Association estimates that more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospitals every year, with the vast majority of those cardiac arrests being fatal. Nationwide, the average survival rate is 10.2%, according to the American Heart Association.

Ask any expert about the key to improving that dismal survival rate, and they’ll give you the same answer: time.

“Cardiac arrest is the most time-sensitive disease in all of medicine,” said Dr. Benjamin Abella, the system chair of the department of emergency medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System.

“Time is the enemy,” said Dr. Thomas Rea, professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “Every minute that goes by without definitive care is a 10% decrease in the likelihood that that patient will survive.”

The thinking behind equipping Fort Worth patrol cars with AEDs is that it will help those suffering a cardiac arrest get access to potentially life-saving shocks sooner. Police officers are sometimes the first responders to an emergency medical call, and get there before emergency medical services, Wood said. In those cases, if officers can respond with an AED before a member of the public or emergency medical responders can, they might save a life.

The initiative was born out of the American Heart Association’s Nation of Lifesavers, a Tarrant County group working to improve cardiac arrest survival rates. Tarrant County is one of three communities in the U.S. selected by the American Heart Association to improve survival rates, and the Nation of Lifesavers committee has convened leaders from local schools, first responders, the business community, and local government to tackle the problem.

During a meeting focused on improving survival rates, an officer with the Fort Worth Police Department recommended equipping patrol cars, in part because the AED at the Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex has been used successfully four times, Wood said.

The first 115 AEDs will be paid for by foundations, including the Amon G. Carter Foundation, the Sid W. Richardson Foundation and BNSF Railway, according to a news release.