Near the start of a March 29 Palm Sunday Mass at St. Camillus Church in Rockaway Beach, Dorothy Dugandzic collapsed in her pew after her heart stopped.
Thankfully, fellow parishioner James McCabe remembered he had an automated external defibrillator (AED) in his car, which was ultimately used by another parishioner, Peter Haggerty, to jumpstart Dugandzic’s heart as an ambulance arrived (“Heart Attack Victim Reunites With Heroes Who Saved Her Life During Mass,” page 5).
Dugandzic survived and is now recuperating at home. She said she shared her story to raise awareness of the importance of having AEDs in churches.
The Tablet echoes the call that all churches should have one of these life-saving devices.
An AED is a medical device used to treat a person who goes into cardiac arrest. It delivers an electric shock to the heart through the chest when it detects an abnormal rhythm, then returns it back to normal.
The device is intended for use by the general public, according to the American Heart Association, which describes an AED as “portable, safe, accurate, and easy to use.”
It drastically increases a person’s chance of survival.
“A person’s chance of surviving drops by 7% to 10% every minute a normal heartbeat isn’t restored. So, immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation, also known as CPR, and AED use can double, or even triple, the person’s chance of survival,” states the American Heart Association on its AED fact sheet.
New York law requires AEDs in many public settings, and as of July 1, the devices are now also required in all nonpublic schools across the state.
While churches are not legally required to carry an AED, imagine the impact if each of the more than 200 Catholic churches in Brooklyn and Queens — serving more than 1.3 million Catholics — carried one.
It could help ensure there is an avenue to immediate help for someone in crisis until medical professionals arrive.
The average cost of an AED is about $2,000. It isn’t cheap, but given its importance, diocesan churches should consider ways to acquire one, whether by purchasing through the existing budget or appealing to the faithful from the pulpit and launching a fundraising effort.
Taking it a step further, when a church acquires an AED, it should consider hosting a training class for clergy and parishioners. While training isn’t required to use an AED, it can help instill greater confidence.
Nonmedical personnel such as police, firefighters, flight attendants, and security guards are trained to use AEDs and, as they are also parishioners at many churches, could lead training and info sessions.
Dugandzic was fortunate on March 29. McCabe and Haggerty both said they “felt the hand of God” in the events that unfolded that day, as there was always the chance neither of them was at St. Camillus Church to begin with.
If every church in the diocese adds an AED and hosts a training session for clergy and parishioners on how to use it, countless people would be able to respond during an emergency, and countless lives could be saved.