AHA Advocate Published in Today's Chicago Tribune: Saving Lives

An opinion piece published in today's Chicago Tribune by Illinois Advocacy Chair, Kathleen Grady:

November 16, 2009

Saving lives
In a fitting tribute to Bill Murray's character in "Groundhog Day," Metra riders seem doomed to suffer through the same discussion of the need for automated external defibrillators on trains each year ("Sudden death, hard lesson; Trains without defibrillators called safety risk," News, Nov. 10). Every time a Metra rider suffers cardiac arrest on one of its trains, the community calls for these lifesaving devices and Metra says it is studying the issue.

Metra has been told for years that AEDs are incredibly easy to use and will save the lives of passengers, and yet Metra Chairman Carole Doris still says, "We're educating ourselves" on this issue.

At this point, what is there left to learn?

Metra needs to install AEDs in its train cars. Just recently it took a big step into the 21st Century by accepting credit cards. Let's keep that forward progress going and get AEDs in these trains.

-- Kathleen L. Grady, chair,
Illinois Advocacy Committee,
American Heart Association, Chicago

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-1116vplettersbriefs4nov16,0,646564.story