AED debate: CTA study says defibrillators wouldn't have helped customers with chest pains

An article from today's Chicago Tribune...

AED debate: CTA study says defibrillators wouldn't have helped customers with chest pains
Agency would consider AED devices with outside funding

By Jon Hilkevitch
Tribune reporter

November 10, 2009

Defibrillators would not have helped any of the 176 CTA passengers complaining of chest pains in the last two years, an analysis by the transit agency found.

Nonetheless, CTA officials still are interested in acquiring the heart-shocking devices if outside funding can be identified.

It would cost $5 million to $5.5 million to deploy defibrillators at all 144 CTA rail stations and on the agency's approximately 2,000 buses, said Amy Kovalan, CTA chief safety and security officer.

The agency does not expect to put defibrillators on its 1,200 rail cars, because train operators are instructed to proceed to the nearest station in a medical emergency. .

CTA records show more than 900 cases of passengers complaining of chest pains over the last five years. The analysis this summer did not evaluate all 900 cases, Kovalan said. Instead, 101 cases from 2008 and 75 cases through this August were studied.

Last year, 73 of the cases were onboard buses and 28 were on trains. So far this year, 56 were on buses and 19 were on trains, officials said.

In none of the cases did the individual suffering chest pains lose consciousness, Kovalan said. "We looked at the data and did not see a case where defibrillators were warranted," she said.

Only unconscious victims with no pulse and not breathing are candidates for defibrillators, according the American Heart Association.

A recent incident occurred Oct. 8, when a rider on a Blue Line train apparently suffered a heart attack, transit officials said.

As CTA personnel called for the fire and police departments, a customer onboard who was a nurse and another customer attempted to assist the ill rider until emergency help arrived. The ill customer was taken to a hospital.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-cta-incidents-10-nov10,0,75928.story

jhilkevitch@tribune.com