This has been in my list of blog topics to write on for about a year. Actually, I have several lists—new topics/uncategorized, herbal medicine, conventional medicine, gardening, basic food storage, expanded food storage, and a couple more. In scrolling through my lists looking for a topic that struck my fancy or inspired me, I initially skipped past the AED one again. And then when going through the conventional medicine, it stood out to me. So I guess there’s someone who needs to read this.
Dr. Joseph Alton’s Survival Medicine Handbook is the only off-grid reference to address AEDs; the others were all written long before personal AEDs came on the market. He notes that a patient with a cardiac arrest without defibrillation has a low chance for survival and thus recommends that members of the survival group pitch in to purchase a unit.
IF money were no object and IF all other survival needs were satisfied, then buying a unit might be a wise investment. IF I were concerned about electrocution, perhaps. However, I think in a collapse, we may not have much electricity for electrocuted people. Lightning strikes? I live in a desert. We don’t get a lot of lightning.
Drowning? No one has a pool out here, though we do have some idiot neighbors who dug a pond last summer and filled it half a dozen times, at least. Apparently, lining the pond so that it doesn’t drain right out hasn’t occurred to them. I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree, but I think I would have clued in after the second or third time at the latest. Yes, we do have bathtubs. Adults are in the room when the kids are bathing. That might be the only reason for us to consider an AED, if some accident were to happen when the littles were taking a bath.
Choking? If the offending object isn’t removed, you don’t need to worry about restarting the heart. Make sure you can do the Heimlich maneuver.
I suppose one reason not to get a home AED is because the likelihood of recovery is so slim, especially if the heart stoppage is due to a heart attack. Heart attack patients are already in poor medical condition, hence the heart attack. They will need modern medical care and medications to even have a chance at meaningful recovery. And in a collapsed society, we will have neither. As the GO-FAR article posted earlier this year mentioned, the odds of surviving a cardiac arrest in hospital with all the technological advances are rather low even for patients in the best of health. Outside the hospital? Yes, the odds are a lot worse.
A second reason against purchase is the high cost. AEDs currently run about $2,000 on Amazon. That kind of money will buy a lot of medicines and supplies that could keep a lot more people alive. Think of all the antibiotics, antivirals, gauze, Quikclot, tourniquets, sterile gloves and gowns, autoclave/pressure canner, antifungals, bleach, alcohol, sutures, garden seeds, that kind of money could buy. If concern about cardiac arrest is the motivation for buying an AED, perhaps the individual or family would be better served by making changes to reduce the risk of a heart attack and use the medical budget for other needs.
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An AED also has annual service and battery replacement every 5. So if you have one you wont have it long term
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