Reader Backs Defibrillators
To The Editor:
The purpose of my letter is to support what Alan Relyea of the Hartford Financial Services Group has to say in his article on the importance of having automated external defibrillators–as well as employees properly trained to use them–in the workplace. (See, "Like Seatbelts, Defibrillators Save Lives," NU, Aug. 12, page 16.)
Earlier this year, an employee here at GuideOne Insurance, an insurer of churches, collapsed while at work. When co-workers found her, she was in cardiac arrest. The company's AED was retrieved from the first aid room and applied to the patient. An employee trained by the American Heart Association in the use of an AED successfully defibrillated the patient.
GuideOne was one of the first companies in Central Iowa to place defibrillators in its buildings as part of the City of West Des Moines Emergency Medical Services Public Access Defibrillation Program. Since this incident, the company has proactively placed these life-saving devices in all of its branch office locations.
Speaking from experience, whether you end up using an AED in your workplace or not, knowing that you have the ability to save a team member's life is worth much more than the cost and time invested in purchasing AEDs and training employees.
Jim Wallace
President and CEO
GuideOne Insurance
West Des Moines, Iowa
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 16, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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