Lifesaving defibrillators make debut

State airports unveil devices that prevent cardiac fatalities

MORE THAN 20 years ago, retired Honolulu Assistant Police Chief Charles Reeves watched his mother die of cardiac arrest after she stepped off an airplane at Honolulu Airport.

Rescuers got to the scene immediately but "were unable to resuscitate her and they did not have this kind of equipment with them to use," he said yesterday.

HEART-SAVING DEVICES ABOUND The number of automated external defibrillators at state airports: Honolulu: 60 Kahului: 10 Kona: 10 Hilo: 9 Lihue: 6 Kapalua: 1 Lanai: 1 Molokai: 1 Kalaeloa: 1 Dillingham Airfield: 1

The kind of equipment Reeves referred to are automated external defibrillators, or AEDs. Yesterday, Reeves was at the unveiling of 60 AEDs that were placed in strategic locations around Honolulu Airport. Forty more are at the other state airports on all islands.

Before, the only AEDs at state airports were with the crash-fire units: one in the U.S. Customs area at Honolulu Airport and one that was donated for use at Kahului Airport on Maui, said Pamela Foster, AED program coordinator for the state airports.

Reeves said he was happy to be at the unveiling, even on short notice, because someone using an AED saved his life nearly seven years ago.

While attending a picnic at Ala Moana Beach Park in April 2000, Reeves suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Officer Brian Taniguchi responded to the emergency. And fortunately for Reeves, Taniguchi was one of the first Honolulu police officers assigned to have AEDs in their vehicles.

The AEDs at Honolulu Airport are in the lobbies, ticketing/check-in, gate and baggage claim areas.

"They're here spread one-two minutes apart for use by trained personnel," said Dr. James Ireland, medical director of the airport's Crash-Fire Department and director of the airport's defibrillator program.

There are an average of six cardiac arrests per year at Honolulu Airport, Ireland said.

So far, about 400 state Department of Transportation employees who work at state airports and about 200 other airport employees have gone through AED training, Foster said. The goal is to have all 1,200 state airport employees trained, she said.

However, the AEDs are in places where the public, not just trained state employees, can use them.

"Anybody can pull it out. We recommend that it's a trained rescuer. But I don't think that any of our survivors will complain if it was somebody who wasn't trained," Foster said.

When someone removes an AED from its security box, an alarm sounds to alert airport emergency responders. In addition, the airport's ramp control will direct security to where the box was opened and call 911.

The state Transportation Department paid $300,000 for the 100 AEDs and $150,000 to train its employees.