AED (Defibrillator) on ships?

[K12Guy]

On 4/9/2019 at 2:58 PM, dkjretired said:

You pick up a phone and call, they will be immediately giving a code and personnel will respond probably with an AED.  I have cardiac history but am lucky that both wife and son are EMTs and trained in use of AEDs. Point is there may also be people on board who are trained.

You are correct, Don. I'm a desert guide and our training requires First Aid, CPR and AED. I also have Wilderness First Aid so if you flip a quad on an excursion and have a compound fracture of a limb I know how to reset it and wait for medical response. Not to mention I can actually run the AED to help the DH of Iamthesea or anyone else on board. Unless I am the one needing the AED. That would be a challenge. I would guess there are lots of people AED trained aboard most of the ships.

 

[Iamthesea]

Since I started this thread, thought I better come back to tell you that DH had a defibrillator implanted this past week. 🤗

 

He was wearing a heart life vest (external defibrillator) and was going to discontinue before our cruise because he hated wearing it.  He had planned to go on the cruise without any help. I was not happy.   Last week, the doctor talked him into going with a subcutaneous defibrillator that is sewn into his left side, next to the heart.  The wire from the D-fib wraps around his heart, but is not attached to his heart muscle like a traditional D-fib is.  Been a rough few days for him, but he plans to be on a flight to Barcelona on May 10th.  😘

[Jey01]

The AEDs you see in public places are designed for literally anyone to use. The machine itself will give you step by step instructions, including something along the lines of “about to administer shock, please stand back.” 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

I have seen them all over the ships. 

[Fixit2010]

On 5/5/2019 at 8:10 PM, Jey01 said:

The AEDs you see in public places are designed for literally anyone to use. The machine itself will give you step by step instructions, including something along the lines of “about to administer shock, please stand back.” 

Quoting Homer Simpson..."To start, press any key...Where's any key"?

 

[JaneStarr]

Currently aboard Solstice. There’s this AED at the entrance to the gym. 

[villauk]

3 hours ago, JaneStarr said:

Currently aboard Solstice. There’s this AED at the entrance to the gym. 

 

 

Now many of us may need to use it if we ventured in there 🤣.

 

Joking aside, we also noticed, for the first time, one on the wall in the cabin corridor on Silhouette this week.

[Iamthesea]

Glad my thread has passengers looking for these lifesaving machines. 👍

 

DH and I fly out today for the Constellation out of Barcelona!   He and I are very excited to be able to travel and feel better about him having the internal device implanted. 

[Hlitner]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 6:02 PM, GoodScout said:

Rest assured if darling hubby needs an AED, any staff member -- even the busboys or pool attendants -- know where the closest one is and how to use it. And with their radios, they'll have a medical response to you before you realize. 

Happy to hear that you are "assured."  We actually witnessed an example of that kind of "assurance" on a cruise (I will not mention the ship and line).  A man collapsed in the gym while on a treadmill.  The nearby staff immediately called for help and CPR was performed.  Nearly 10 minutes later a nurse finally arrived with a defibrillator which was at least 5 minutes too late.  Cruise ships are very large places and the on-duty medical staff are generally in the medical center located on one of the lowest decks.  It takes time for the staff to respond and get to a location that can be more than a dozen decks and 500 feet distant.

 

The thing about AEDs is they are intended to be in very visible locations where everyone has easy (and fast) access.  We have noticed that they are finally starting to appear around some ships but they need to have a lot more of the devices..which should be visible to everyone!   We know a couple that has found their own solution....they actually carry their own AED device!  Perhaps that is somewhat obsessive but it is what it is.

 

Hank

[Iamthesea]

In a sense, that's what DH has been doing for the last 6 weeks.  And now has it implanted under his arm. 

 

Sadly, your story is one of those that I read about on these boards.

 

We are off to the airport!