AEDs Becoming Critical Gear at BMX Tracks

As reported elsewhere on BMXNEWS, 37 year old racer Bryan Oblad collapsed with Sudden Cardiac Arrest on January 2, immediately following his main event at Rad Canyon BMX in Utah. Reports from the scene were that Bryan was revived, but passed away upon arrival at the hospital.

Because it is situated at a county facility, Rad Canyon did have an AED available to them, but it was the professionally-trained EMT and the help of an MD in the crowd who helped to successfully revive him at the scene. But the incident has reminded BMXers of the importance of CPR training, and provided new interest in bringing AEDs to BMX Tracks around the US.

The units cost anywhere between $1200 and $3000, depending on the onboard features. BMXNEWS looked at the Philips HeartStart OnSite, which is selling at online retailer AED Superstore for $1,267.99. When asked about the difference between a $1300 and a $2300 AED, Customer Service at AED Superstore said:

“Price difference mainly comes down to features, options, sometimes durability. The higher priced AEDs may be designed more for the medical professional (EMTs, etc.). Lower priced AEDs would be pretty much your basic defibrillator. As the price goes up, you find things like longer warranty, CPR assistance software, like CPR Help, CPR Coach, CPR Feedback (tells you whether chest compressions are deep enough or if you need to press harder), on up to ECG Display screens and 3-lead monitoring”

Obviously, the cost is a big factor in the adoption of the units at BMX Tracks, most of which run on razor-thin operating margins. There are a few sources of grant money for acquiring the units:

The Foundation Center (http://www.foundationcenter.org/) helps match grant seekers with funders. For those tracks who are not savvy on grant writing, there are some excellent online resources to help in the process, as well as workshops on the subject of grantwriting.

BMXNEWS will be keeping its eye on this issue in the coming months. Meanwhile, the American Heart Association has an online tool for locating CPR classes in your area—go take one.