AED Purchase for Temple Sinai

The Men’s Club will be sponsoring a fundraiser from our congregation members. The Men’s Club will sponsor up to half the cost with our generous congregation members donating the rest. The cost for the voice instructed AED [automated external defibrillator] is about $2000 which would include extra adult pads, container, visible sign, and perhaps replacement lithium batteries. The Mayo Clinic advises:

AEDs are used to revive someone from sudden cardiac arrest, which usually occurs with a disruption in the heart’s electrical activity that causes the heart to beat dangerously fast (ventricular tachycardia) or irregularly (ventricular fibrillation). Because of this altered heart rhythm (arrhythmia), your heart can’t pump effectively.

The arrhythmia stops blood flow to your brain and other vital organs, usually resulting in death if not treated within minutes. If you survive, you can have permanent damage to your brain and other organs, so the sooner your heart’s rhythm is restored the better.

If you’re having ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia and an AED is nearby, a bystander in a public place or a family member at home can attach the self-sticking pads to your chest. The AED then reads your heart rhythm and sends an electrical current to your heart if an electric shock can correct the rhythm. If used within minutes, the jolt can restore your heart to a normal rhythm and possibly save your life.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after cardiac arrest can keep blood flowing to your heart and brain for a time. But often only defibrillation can restore the heart’s normal rhythm. Together they can improve your chances of survival.

Our Sisterhood is thoughtfully providing CPR training for those congregants able to pay the outside fee of $30 on Sept. 28th. Sign-ups are essential.

In the interests of full disclosure: In reporting their findings at a major cardiology meeting in Chicago and online in The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers who conducted the trial noted that the devices clearly save lives in hospitals, emergency vehicles and in busy public settings like airports and casinos where trained employees are on duty.

But the study, which included more than 7,000 patients at risk of having the seizures because of previous heart attacks, found that patients in homes equipped with the gear died at the same rate as those without it.

However, with trained congregants in our public setting, an immediate call to 911 and immediate use of the AED will provide a much higher likelihood of survival. From our recent heart health breakfast hosted by the Men’s Club, it seems clear that we have a significant number of candidates in our congregation. If you agree, please make a donation to the Men’s Club clearly marked for AED purchase. For our paid Men’s Club members, please provide a “yea” or “nea” for these funds to be released from our Men’s Club Bank account.

Thank you,

Steve Myerson
President, Temple Sinai Men’s club