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Social Science 2012-07-12

Campaign Steps Up to Get More AEDs Into Schools to Prevent Child Deaths

A nationwide campaign has begun to get more Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs into schools). Strong evidence exists to suggest the machines can stop more children dying from cardiac arrest.

SURREY, ENGLAND, July 12, 2012

There is nothing worse than the loss of a child's life. Sadly every week twelve young people die as a result of sudden cardiac arrest within the UK. Some of the victim's families have used their own personal tragedy to springboard a campaign in the heart of London to get more AEDs onto paediatric first aid courses and into schools.

The campaign is calling for fast action on the matter, which could help save the lives of many children. The UK charity SADS runs 'The Big Shock Campaign', which aims to raise awareness on the importance of AEDs. Despite their best efforts there are still not enough AEDs within schools. Linda Boden who sadly lost her son to Cardiac arrest has called for immediate action:

"It is with a lifetime of regret that I could not save my son Andrew, but if I can save one other mother or family member from going through the same heartache then I will and if that means campaigning for the Government to put defibrillators in all schools then so be it."

The AED is the only known way of restarting a child's heart if they have fallen into cardiac arrest. There are estimated 270 cardiac arrests in the UK each year with an average response time of eight minutes from the paramedics. However for each minute that passes without an AED a child's survival chance can drop by as much as 10%, which suggests the machines could save a significant amount of lives.

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The work of SADS and dedicated individuals like Linda Boden is pushing the campaign to the front seats of parliament. There end goal is to push through legislation to ensure that every school by law has to own an AED. One thing for sure is that their work is not going unnoticed.

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