Defibrillators donated

Sheriff calls it ‘life-saving technology’

By FRITZ MAYER

HARRIS, NY — Dick Martinkovic lifted the lid on one of the two boxes containing new defibrillators, and a deep voice began barking instructions from somewhere deep inside. “Tear open the plastic lining and take out a pad,” said the voice.

“These boxes talk to you,” said Martinkovic, who is Sullivan County Commissioner of Public Safety in Sullivan County, “and when you’re in a stressful situation, that’s a nice thing to hear.”

The boxes contained two new defibrillators that were purchased by Catskill Regional Medical Center (CRMC) through a grant from the state department of health and donated to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s office.

At a new conference on November 29 at the hospital, Sheriff Mike Schiff said he was very pleased to receive the equipment. He said through experience with working as a state police official at the Javitz Convention Center in New York City, he frequently faced situations involving individuals who suffered cardiac arrest. He said treating the victims with defibrillators, rather than manual cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), “was like going from the stone age to modern times.”

His view was backed up by information from the American Heart Association (AHA), which explained that during a heart attack, or sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), the electrical signals that regulate the beating of the heart become disorganized, and the heart can no longer keep blood pumping through the body. CPR, if administered correctly and in time, may keep the victim alive by pushing blood through the body, but it will not restore normal electrical impulses to the heart. For that, a defibrillator, which provides an electric shock to the heart, is needed.

In the case of a condition called ventricular fibrillation, the most common cause of SCA, defibrillation is the only known therapy to correct the abnormal heart rhythm. In those cases, for every minute that passes without defibrillation, a victim’s chance of survival decreases by about 10 percent, with death occurring eight or ten minutes after the attack. More than 250,000 Americans die each year from SCA. The AHA estimates that more widespread use of defibrillators could save the lives of 50,000 Americans per year.

The two machines donated by CRMC will be carried in patrol cars, and will be switched from one vehicle to another to ensure that they are always in one of the county’s 11 vehicles that are in service and on the road.

The defibrillators are manufactured by a company called Powerheart, and cost about $1,500 a piece. According to literature from Powerheart, software in the devices can determine whether a patient is experiencing abnormal heart rhythm, and whether it is life threatening; it delivers a shock only when needed.