Man dies on Mall
A month after Charlottesville began installing Automated External Defibrillators in all public buildings, a man collapsed in a Downtown Mall office this morning, and rescue personnel performed CPR on him in front of Hamiltons' restaurant for approximately 15 minutes, witnesses estimated.
According to an officer on the scene, the man was carrying furniture to a new business on the second floor above Hamiltons', and on the second trip, complained of chest pains. Charlottesville Fire Department arrived in less than four minutes, says Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad Chief Dayton Haugh, and the rescue squad was there in eight minutes, but they were unable to revive the man.
Hamiltons' does not have an AED, which delivers an electrical shock to an irregularly beating heart and increases a cardiac arrest victim's survival rate by as much as 85 percent. The restaurant was not open when the man collapsed at around 10:30am.
"In general, the sooner you can do that, the better the chances are of survival," says Haugh. Both rescue units carry the device as part of their regular equipment.
"We're trying to promote putting them in businesses," says Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner. He cites an AED rescue in Madison in the past week. "They had one, the person went down, and they were able to revive that person," says Werner.
That was not the case this morning, and the man was dead when he arrived at UVA hospital.
16 comments
Four minutes and eight minutes response's Thats pretty darn good !
Don't think you could ask for anything quicker !
I would love to help in anyway to provide lifesaving devices for your community. Please contact me- Live can be saved with AED's! I am sure that mall would have gladly spent $1800.00 to save this man's life. Unfortunately now they could have a law suite on their hands for not having this device. I commend the Fire Department for getting there so quickly. Do they not have AED's on their trucks? Please, if you have any questions or want to purchase one for your business, please contact me- Emily 704-224-8431. Thanks
The fact that Hamilton's doesn't have an AED may be noteworthy, I suppose, though it doesn't seem that it makes them different from the vast majority of businesses downtown. However, in this case, it wouldn't have mattered since the restaurant wasn't open, the person in question wasn't in or doing business with the restaurant but just happened to be outside the building. The implication from the article is that Hamilton's is somehow at fault or could have prevented this and that doesn't seem fair to me.
Lastly, please remove the ambulance chasing-type comment from "Emily." Talk about poor taste.
Thank you, Chris, for your comments.
Just think if Charlottesville Fire Dept would have gotten their ambulances. The ambulance could have been there in 4 minutes instead of 8. And why stay and do cpr for 15 minutes when the hospital is 5 miutes away, why not do it while going to the hospital? This is a prime example of why CFD needs ambulances. My thoughts and prayers go out to this mans family.
CFD was there in 4 minutes and CARS was there in 8!!! CARS is only down the street from the downtown mall. They should of been there right when the CFD got there.
cboy and cindy_hoo, if the CFD didn't have any life-saving equipment, why did it waste the petroleum going there in the first place? Firemen have been performing CPR for years. If it is a quesion of why they didn't use their AED, or why they didn't have one (although they are encouraging private businesses to have them and be trained in their use) is beyond me. Supposedly, government offices are equipped with them, so one would think that the CFD is alos. Maybe they were in such a hurry to get there in 4 minutes they forget the equipment? Your comments don't make sense.
C'ville eye- spoken like a true CARS member.
cindy-hoo, was there anything I said that wasn't true? To make an argument that a fire vehicle can get through the Ridge/McIntire interesetion before a CARS vehicle can get through 250-Bypass/McIntire intersection, the Preston/McIntire intersection and up Marktet Street isn't an argument at all, just common sense. I see that your comment was to say that this incident proves that the CFD should take over the CARS function. Must every discussion be a "me against they?" You and charlieboy have chosen the wrong incident, and, since you haven't brought up any others, you still haven't made a case. Hopefully charlieboy will retire soon and leave the area. His disengenuous arguments only serve as an aspersion to his character.
Having an AED is an excellent item for large business with lots of employees to have, but there cost is still to high for the average business owner to afford. Also having an AED does not mean it will help the victim. AED's only will shock ventricular fibrillation and some will shock ventricular tachycardia. If it does not find those types of rhythms, it will say "No Shock Advised" The city fire may have gotten one of these rhythms, so CPR is the correct choice of action. Every fire engine in the city has an AED/Manual defibrillator. All I believe have full drug boxes, the same as the rescue squad. Many of the city firefighters have just completed EMT-I course to become medics. All firefighters in the city have to have CPR which includes training on an AED. As for who arrived first, it does not matter as both the city fire department and rescue squad carry the same tools and drugs to help save a person in cardiac arrest.
The only thing you need an ambulance for is to transport them if you resuscitate them.
Cville Eye it seems that your ignorance has struck again. CFD does have AED's along with drug boxes and everything else an ambulance carries. I'm amazed that you call it a waste of petroleum that they went to try and help save a mans life. And yes, they should have an ambulance and be the main provider in the City. This is one case of many. But I am sure you already know that.
Cville Eye said, "cboy and cindy_hoo, if the CFD didn't have any life-saving equipment, why did it waste the petroleum going there in the first place?" It's a rhetorical question.
charlieboy said "This is one case of many." What does this mean?
Don't run from the issue. Face it head on and ask the City to add an accountable, professional ambulance service to protect our citizens.
The City is incapable of providing an accountable service or a professional one. Rather, it provides expensive programs. CARS is an accountable and professional service for the city. It is accountable to its contributors, bad service = low contributions. The volunteers all have excellent professional training. Some of them are doctors, which is higher training than you're mostly likely going to find at a fire station. charlieboy, where have you been. Overrun O'Connell announced to council last spring that he is going to launch is own EMS service in the fall through CFD although he hasn't figured out how he's going to send $400+ bills to the clients. I guess out-of-towners will get free service as with the abusive driver fees program, since the hospital is under no obligation to give the city any of its patients' information such as home address or insurance particulars.
Valid comments made by many but there seems to be some disconnect as to exactly what happens on a call. CFD, CARS and any other Advanced Life Support (ALS) licensed agency all carry heart monitors with defibrilator as well as standard drug boxes. All Basic Life Support (BLS) units carry automated external defibrilator (AED). ALS and BLS providers are trained to their appropriate level including CPR. As noted in a previous comment it does not matter who got there first as equal care would be available. On top of that response times for both groups would be considered excellent based on national standards. As for defibrilators please understand they do not work on every cardiac arrest due to the type of cardiac rhythm. There seems to be a public impression that everyone in cardiac arrest can be revived if only there were an AED in place. This happens on TV shows but not in real life. Only about 3-5% of witnessed cardiac arrests end up being survivable. And while this percentage is low it still is impressive as thousands of lives are saved each year. Also it is easy to make judgements based on the limited information received but unless you are present to witness a call from start to finish it is grossly innappropriate to make a judgement as to whether service was good or deficient. As to the arguement about the city getting ambulances it is my belief that the more ambulances available to the public the better the public is served. EMS calls continue to grow due to increased population in the area as well as the aging of our population. There is enough EMS work available for all organization whether they be career or volunteer staffed.
You have a good point, CVille Eye. While the police might an injured person's name and address for an accident report, I think they would be up against the wall to release it. I simply don't know at this time if accident reports are public information or not.