Of the 250,000 people who die each year in the United States of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), 5,000 and 7,000 are children, adolescents and young adults. The American Heart Association says that about half of the SCA victims have no prior symptoms of heart disease, and in the younger age group, the cause is almost always congenital heart defects. With each passing minute, the chance of an SCA victim surviving decreases by 10 percent.

Defibrillation shock-an electrical impulse through the heart-is the definitive treatment for SCA because it restores a normal heart rhythm. The American Heart Association says, "If CPR and defibrillation were more readily available and the survival rate from sudden cardiac arrest increased from 5 to 20 percent, about 40,000 more lives could be saved each year."

As of mid-2001, all 50 states had enacted defibrillator laws or adopted regulations. In 2002, Congress incorporated the Community Access to Emergency Devices Act into the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act, and the bill was signed by President Bush on June 12, 2002. It authorizes federal grant money for the purchase and placement of AEDs in public places, and training for first responders in AED use and CPR.

On its website, the NATA has an official statement in support of AEDs. The statement reads, in part: "An AED program should be part of an athletic trainer's emergency action plan. NATA strongly encourages athletic trainers, in every work setting, to have access to an AED. Athletic trainers are encouraged to make an AED part of their standard emergency equipment."

Athletic trainers are often involved in the acquisition of AEDs, which typically cost $1,500 - $3,000 per unit. Few schools have AEDs budgeted, so funding comes from grants, special fundraisers, or donations from concerned individuals, businesses, medical organizations or service clubs.

Scott Barringer, ATC, is sports medicine coordinator for the Cabarrus County School District in North Carolina. Six years ago, Scott asked Northeast Medical Center in Concord, North Carolina to purchase AEDs for the school district, explaining that AEDs were not just for athletic purposes, but for the spectators from the community and surrounding area schools that attend the games and events at our schools. They voted to purchase 14 AEDs, one for every high school and middle school in the district."

All athletic trainers and health and PE teachers in the school district are trained as CPR/AED instructors, Scott says, and they train every coach as well as many other teachers and faculty members. "All our coaches must be current in their CPR/AED training," he says. "There's no guarantee that an athletic trainer will be close by if someone needs help."

The 14 AEDs in Scott's school district have not yet been called into action, he is pleased to report. "It's important to have AEDs available-but you hope you need have to use them," he says.

Web sites with information on AEDs include www.early-defib.org; www.sads.org (web site of the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation); americanheart.org; and redcross.org.