RMG has since our inception over 15 years ago always given back to our community, from children’s sports teams and non-profit community groups to veteran’s issues we have annually contributed thousands of dollars back into the community in which we live and work. Recently we became active in Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) programs and have been active with our clients and community groups in placing this life saving devices in workplaces, homes and public areas. Recently I was asked by a client “why bother”, with the amount of paperwork involved, time, effort and costs incurred there is very little return on investment, well let me tell you a story:

I knew a man for almost 40 years, he was a good man with a loving family, wife, children, grandchildren and worked hard all his life to ensure a comfortable lifestyle for his family. He gave up everything he knew when he immigrated to Canada from Northern Ireland in order to ensure his children would have opportunities available to them that were not available there and to ensure that the violence and strife going on at the time did not ensnare his children like it had with many others. He worked hard and built a successful life in Canada and eventually earned a well-deserved retirement. Now this man was not a candidate for Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), he was fairly fit, didn’t smoke, maintained his weight at a healthy level and frequently exercised.

During his retirement cruise this man passed away due to a SCA, now I don’t know if an AED would have saved him, what I do know his chances of survival would have increased from @ 7% to over 65% had a PAD system been in place and used effectively. So for the sake of $1500.00 the return on that investment would have been that this man may have had more time with his wife, children and grandchildren, that sons would not have been woken in the middle of the night with such heart breaking news and have to fly half way around the world to comfort a grieving mother and wife, that great-grandchildren would have know him, instead now will only know their great-grandfather through pictures and memories and that his son would not think “what if” almost every single day. That is the return on that investment. Now I cannot change any of the above, but what we can do is help prevent this from happening to other wives, sons, daughters, grandchildren and co-workers.

AED’s work, they are simple, easy to use, effective and save lives. In case you’re wondering how I know so much about the man written about above, well, he was my father.

Stephen Patterson, ACP, EMT-I, ATLS