GCSU installs two new defibrillators
GCSU now boasts a safer campus, thanks to the addition of two automated external defibrillators. A defibrillator can save a life by measuring a weak or irregular heartbeat and administering an electrical shock to stabilize it.
Student Government Assosciation president Zach Mullins and newly-elected vice president Evan Karanovich worked together on the project, and with the assistance of Justin Gaines, coordinator of Emergency Preparedness and Occupational Safety for GCSU. The project showed its first results Feb. 26, when the two AEDs were installed.
One AED is located in the Student Activity Center and the other is at the intramural fields on West Campus.
“We chose the Student Activity Center and the intramural fields because those areas are pretty much exclusively for student use,” Gaines said. “This is primarily about student safety.”
The process began when Mullins met with several resident assistants last summer, some of whom mentioned the possibility of having AEDs in the GCSU residence halls.
“(The meeting) sort of sparked my interest, and I started looking at what the situation was around campus, not just in the residence halls,” Mullins said.
Gaines is excited about the initial move, but is not satisfied with just one step in the process.
“Our ultimate goal is to have defibrillators in every building on campus,” Gaines said. “Now obviously with 87 buildings on campus, that’s a lot of money. So we have to start small and go from there.”
Gaines added that the intramural field location makes sense because of the natural possibility of an athletic participant needing the aid of a defibrillator. Gaines hopes to create much shorter response times in any event where a defibrillator is needed with the installation of the AEDs.
The model of AEDs used by GCSU is the Reviver, manufactured by Defibtech. The two-button unit with a color screen is meant to increase ease of use and allow basically anyone to save a life by following simple instructions.
“It’s basically idiot-proof,” Gaines said. “It’s step-by-step, the diagrams are right there for you. You don’t need an EMT, you don’t need any medical training to operate them.”
Mullins and Gaines each expressed their desire to get AEDs in the hands of GCSU Public Safety, to mobilize the system and allow access to a defibrillator anywhere on the GCSU campus or surrounding area.
“I have a proposal to put four more (AEDs) in our patrol cars. Our response time is less than five minutes almost all the time, so it would be great to be able to get the defibrillator to someone who needed it that fast,” Gaines said.
Mullins has outlined his vision for the next few AEDs on campus.
“Once we get the ones in the patrol cars, I’d like to see Russell (Auditorium) taken care of. That’s a large gathering spot for students, as well as some of our older alumni,” Mullins said. “From there, I’d love to see one in (Maxwell Student Union). We’re looking at key locations to distribute them geographically around campus. The residence halls should be taken care of in the long run, but it doesn’t seem feasible right now with our budget.”
According to Ross Sheppard, SGA treasurer, each AED costs approximately $1,200, and the first two were funded with student fees.
“The idea is to use those (student) fees to give back to the students while they’re still in school,” Sheppard said.
Gaines understands that the money is tight, but is quick to defend the expenditures for any more AEDs needed on campus.
“It’s all about funding, obviously,” Gaines said, “but you can’t put a price on someone’s life. You never can.”
Posted by Preston Sellers
on Mar 19 2010. Filed under News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
