ROANOKE, Va. – An exciting addition to the Mill Mountain Star that could save lives — a 24/7 AED.
Lifesaving equipment at your fingertips.
“Sudden cardiac arrest can happen anytime, anyplace, and the chance of survival goes down about 10% every minute that passes, if CPR is not performed and an AED is not applied,” Allison Shok, Co-Owner of AED Team said.
An automated external defibrillator was placed right at the entrance of the Mill Mountain Star, a place where it can take 6 to 8 minutes for fire and EMS to get to. The AED will allow community members and visitors to experience Roanoke’s iconic sights with safety as a priority.
“So many people visit the star and Mill Mountain Park and Mill Mountain Zoo, to have an AED here on location is really important,” Joe Cobb, Vice Mayor of Roanoke said.
356,000 people suffer from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest every year, nationwide. 105 of them happen right here in Roanoke. Of those, 90% don’t survive. The AED is easy to use with instructions said out loud.
The AED team said an AED cannot hurt you, it can only save your life. It will only deliver a shock if it detects an abnormal heart rhythm. If you are ever in a situation with an AED nearby you can call 911 to get step-by-step instructions.
“The 911 center has the locations of the outdoor AED boxes and an access code to get inside the box. And they relay that to the caller, so they are able to retrieve an AED and use it,” Richard Shok, Co-Owner of AED Team said.