American Airlines defibrillators have saved 50 lives in the seven years since the airline began installing AEDs on its fleet of aircraft, according to the National Center for Early Defibrillation. Save no. 50 occurred this spring at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport when a flight attendant used an AED to revive a 67-year-old Virginia man who was exiting a plane after a flight from Reno, Nevada. The man collapsed outside the door at the boarding gate. A doctor began CPR and the flight attendant brought the AED from the aircraft and applied the pads to the man's chest. In a few seconds, the device alerted the flight attendant to administer a shock. She delivered three shocks before the victim was resuscitated.
In May 1997, American became the first U.S. carrier to equip its fleet of aircraft with AEDs. On April 12, 2004, The FAA required AEDs to be on all commercial passenger aircraft of a certain size.
To date, American has had 89 AED events in which a shock was delivered--indicating a 56 percent survival rate compared to the national average of five to seven percent.
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