News release: Colorado - Denver/Boulder

April 28, 2003

For more information, call:
Steve Krizman
Kaiser Permanente
Phone: (303) 344-7932
E-mail: Steve.A.Krizman@kp.org

High-tech devices to save lives in Denver public places

Denver, CO – Eight life-saving automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) have been installed at Denver International Airport, thanks to a donation from Kaiser Permanente and the American Heart Association’s Operation Heartbeat initiative. The devices will help speed response to heart attack victims. Similar devices have been credited with saving lives at airports, on airplanes, in casinos and other public places across the country.

The AEDs analyze the heart rhythm and automatically indicate when to administer an electric shock. “Because it requires minimal training, we’re able to enlist many more people to give critical assistance to someone who suffers a cardiac arrest,” said Michael Leonard, MD, chief of Kaiser Permanente’s patient safety program in Colorado. “These new devices allow anyone to come to the aid of a traveler in those critical first minutes following an attack.

“Kaiser Permanente teamed with the American Heart Association on this project because it’s clear that lives will be saved at a fairly small cost,” Dr. Leonard said. Through a $60,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente, 24 AEDs have been placed at DIA, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and with the city of Denver fire stations. Kaiser Permanente also donated AEDs that have been installed at the state Capitol Building.

As many as 400,000 Americans die each year of cardiac arrest, mostly when their hearts start to beat chaotically. Automatic defibrillators are designed to recognize the chaotic beating and deliver a shock to bring the heart back into a normal rhythm.

“Immediate defibrillation can result in greater than 70 percent survival,” said Dave Fending, chair of the American Heart Association’s Operation Heartbeat initiative. “With each minute of delay in defibrillation, nearly 10 percent fewer people survive. With as little as a 10-minute delay, the chance to survive is small.”

Christopher Colwell, MD, medical director for Denver Health Paramedics and Denver Fire, said, “The new AEDs offer additional life-saving support to that provided by Denver paramedics. Although firefighters and paramedics can respond quickly to 911 calls in the metro area, the AEDs offer the kind of immediate assistance that may mean the difference between life and death.”

Kaiser Permanente is a non-profit health care organization that cares for more than 400,000 members in the six-county Denver metro area and in Colorado Springs. Its scores for clinical effectiveness placed it among the top 15 health plans in the nation, according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s annual Health Care Quality Report. In the Denver metro area, care is provided by a coordinated team that includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, mental health counselors and physical therapists. In the Colorado Springs area, Kaiser Permanente cares for its members through an affiliated network of community-based physicians and other health care providers.

The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency with the mission to reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke. In an effort to reach its goal, the AHA has developed Operation Heartbeat, a program designed to educate the public on the four links within the “chain of survival”: early access (contacting 911), early CPR, early defibrillation (AEDs) and early advanced care. The Operation Heartbeat initiative works to increase public awareness and support for emergency care on these links.