ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y., April 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — It’s almost two years to the day when soccer fans across the world watched in horror as star midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffered sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) during a tournament match. He was revived with an automated external defibrillator (AED) but his story illustrates how SCA, which accounts for 360,000 deaths annually in the United States, can strike an otherwise healthy child or adult who does not have a diagnosed heart disease or other health problems.
Officials at the Rockville Centre Soccer Club recognize this sobering fact and today have made an important announcement: They will provide all 33 of their travel teams with a Cardiac Science Powerheart® G3 Plus AED and an additional 10 units for coverage at all the intramural soccer fields. They are among the first soccer clubs on Long Island to take this precautionary step to fight SCA.
“We are pleased to be a leader in providing a safer playing environment for our players, volunteer coaches and parents,” said James M. Belling, Rockville Centre Soccer Club Intramural Chairman and Second Vice President. “We had a close call with an adult basketball player in town who was saved by an AED provided by Cardiac Science, so we feel we would rather be proactive with this and not have to look back at some tragedy thinking it could have been prevented.”
SCA is an abrupt loss of heart function. According to the American Heart Association, if it’s not treated within minutes, SCA quickly leads to death. The shock from an AED can stop an irregular rhythm and allow a normal rhythm to resume in a heart in SCA. Sadly, more than 95 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital. However, if a victim receives defibrillation within one minute of the SCA, there is a 90% chance of resuscitation. If a victim must wait 10 minutes for defibrillation, the chance of survival drops to less than 5%.
“When you read the statistics or hear stories about athletes dying from SCA, you realize that AEDs are an investment,” said Belling. “We hope that soccer clubs around the country follow our lead.”
New York has some of the strongest AED protection laws in the United States. In addition to a Good Samaritan Law that provides protection to those who use an AED on an SCA victim, the state also passed laws requiring that buildings, health clubs and public schools have AEDs.