Thousands of moving parts need to be monitored in the planning of any major event. Regardless of whether you're running a remote northern Ontario youth camp, a busy downtown Toronto corporate technology convention, or a large-scale marathon through the city streets of Vancouver, your ultimate concern is always attendee safety. Out of all possible medical emergencies, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the most time-sensitive.

After SCA has struck, survival rate decreases by approximately 10% with each passing minute that defibrillation has not occurred. Depending on where an event is held (e.g., winding through crowded city streets at a race, or down wooded trails in the middle of a campground), precious minutes could be wasted before local emergency services make their way to the affected area. Immediate access to an AED will be required, and HeartSine's line of Samaritan PAD AEDs is engineered for swift deployment, extreme portability, and ruggedness.

What Makes an AED Event Ready?

Not all medical emergencies appear the same, nor do they occur in the same location. While a bulky, wall-mounted office AED will not withstand being thrown into the back of a vehicle and raced across five kilometers of dirt road or crammed into the contents of a convention organizer's bag, it is a different story for event medical kits. Various challenges require hardware with particular attributes, and these include:

• Environmental Factors: Extreme outdoor conditions, such as snow, rain, heavy dust, and rough terrain, are likely to play a role when attending an outdoor event.

• The Density of the Crowd: The more people there are, the larger the human obstacle that needs to be overcome in order to reach a patient who has experienced SCA with their potentially large, bulky medical kit.

• Varying Levels of Responder: The first person to reach a collapse patient at an event might be anything from a skilled emergency medical technician to a temporary camp counselor or untrained volunteer staff member.

To accommodate such needs, an event-ready AED needs to be incredibly lightweight, easily operable under high-stress situations, and withstand the harsh Canadian elements across any event coast to coast.

Rapid Deployment for 3 Event Archetypes:

1. Marathons & Athletic Road Races

Athletic events span such massive geographic distances; a cardiac emergency could occur near the start or at mile 26. It is impossible for mobile medical teams on bicycles, segways or foot patrol to constantly check the weight of their gear when navigating these immense routes; thus, these HeartSine devices are incredibly useful in reducing bulk. The HeartSine Samaritan 450P's integrated CPR Rate Advisor uses a novel ICG technology to ensure that even a weary volunteer running up to a collapsing marathoner can deliver a high level of quality compressions with audio and visual feedback to the rescuer("push faster", "push slower," or "good compressions").

2. Summer Camps & Wilderness Retreats

For the directors of summer camps and wilderness retreat programs who are managing many lives miles away from local paramedics, a twenty-minute response time for emergency services may be an optimistic best-case scenario. Managing multiple expiring lithium batteries and electrode pads at various stations throughout camp is a headache for directors, so HeartSine includes its unique Pad-Pak, which integrates both the battery and the pads into a single cartridge that needs to be replaced once every four years. Camps with family guests also receive their Pediatric-Pak option that automatically calibrates its charge to pediatric victims.

3. Conferences, Trade Shows & Conventions

For corporate events and conventions held within the walls of gigantic exhibition centers with multiple floors and crowded exhibition rooms, the main medical tents may be a great distance from those that need attention within. "Pop-up" security stations that are established by organizers at strategic locations can save valuable time and have devices that are simple to use due to HeartSine's simple icon-based interface. The fully automatic 360P offers extreme simplicity by analyzing and delivering a charge without needing any user intervention at the moment.

Prepping Your Event Safety Strategy

Properly deploying your HeartSine AEDs requires diligent preparation before attendees are allowed through your gates or into your registration doors. Plan all your site locations beforehand, including marking each and every device in clear sight on your overall site map and informing your staff of their positions beforehand.

Before opening your event doors, a quick glimpse of each device's flashing green light will give rescuers a positive confirmation that all self-testing procedures are complete, and the device is rescue-ready with no external meters or difficult diagnostics required.

Safeguarding Your Event Safety Infrastructure

With an assortment of ultra-lightweight and readily deployable defibrillators at your disposal, you not only can secure lives but minimize organizational liability as well. Whether it's a local road race or a major convention, having the right AED for your needs can alter the outcome of a tragic event.

Those involved in coordinating large events in Canada, as well as any non-profit organization or corporate safety managers looking to equip their safety team with premium medical gear, can utilize an authorized distributor such as the Shock Shop for the complete selection of AEDs, replacement cartridges, and ruggedized cases.