{"id":1742,"date":"2026-02-17T12:51:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/?p=1742"},"modified":"2026-02-17T14:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:44:05","slug":"the-willing-bystander-using-an-aed-when-every-second-counts-part-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/the-willing-bystander-using-an-aed-when-every-second-counts-part-c\/","title":{"rendered":"The Willing Bystander: Using an AED when every second counts! &#8211; Part C"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1742\" class=\"elementor elementor-1742\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5398f67a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5398f67a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-53c974e1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"53c974e1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_we_effect_on&quot;:&quot;none&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>AEDs Are Everywhere \u2014 So Why Aren\u2019t Survival Rates Improving?<\/h2>\nThe government and businesses have purchased thousands of AEDs, they are virtually everywhere and yet the survival rates haven\u2019t improved. We still have &lt;5% survival rate and yet the rare times when the public starts CPR and uses an AED the survival rates are more like 35% \u2014 that could mean the difference of 1,000\u2019s of lives saved every year.\n\nAEDs Are Everywhere \u2014 So Why Aren\u2019t Survival Rates Improving?\nThe government and businesses have purchased thousands of AEDs, they are virtually everywhere and yet the survival rates haven\u2019t improved. We still have &lt;5% survival rate and yet the rare times when the public starts CPR and uses an AED the survival rates are more like 35% \u2014 that could mean the difference of 1,000\u2019s of lives saved every year.\n\nAs we discussed in The Big Mistake blog this is part three \u2013 How AEDs Actually Work. Please watch this short video on how an AED actually works so you can become a willing bystander. \ud83d\udcfa Watch the video below.\n\n<iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-FMJ1crHsww?si=F12V613-jh_NnF4I\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\n<h2>How AEDs Work \u2014 And Why Timing Matters<\/h2>\nPeople need to know that an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is quite easy to use. The situation of managing someone in cardiac arrest is stressful and likely very upsetting, but the patient needs people to help them. When the heart goes into cardiac arrest and stops beating and pumping blood, the person will die within 5\u201310 minutes \u2014 long before the 9-1-1 Emergency Services arrive.\n\nOver 90% of the time when a person\u2019s heart stops, the heart goes into a rhythm called \u201cVentricular Fibrillation\u201d \u2014 and the only way to stop the heart from fibrillating is to DE-fibrillate it. Hence the name Defibrillator. That is why defibrillators were invented: to reset the heart and return a normal rhythm so it can start working and pumping blood again.\n<h2>What To Do If Someone Collapses \u2014 Step By Step<\/h2>\nIf you find a person unconscious \u2014 please yell for help and have someone call 9-1-1, assess the patient, determine if the patient is unconscious, not moving, does not have any signs of circulation or does not have a pulse. If so, then start CPR immediately and have someone bring you the AED. Once the AED is available, turn it on, stop CPR, and follow the voice prompts.\u00a0<strong>The 4 Steps to using an AED are:<\/strong>\n<ol>\n \t<li><strong>Turn on the AED<\/strong>\u00a0and follow the voice prompts<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Connect the electrodes<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 simply peel the electrodes off the plastic and stick them on the patient\u2019s skin as shown in the electrode package<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>Let the AED analyze the heart rhythm<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 the voice prompt will say \u201cDo not touch the patient, analyzing the heart rhythm\u201d<\/li>\n \t<li><strong>If a shock is advised<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 the voice prompt will say \u201cShock Advised \u2013 Press the Flashing Shock Button.\u201d Tell everyone to stand clear, don\u2019t touch the patient, and then press the flashing shock button when it is safe, so the AED can deliver the life-saving shock<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nIf the AED says \u201cNo Shock Advised,\u201d the AED cannot deliver a shock. Even if you push the shock button, you cannot override the device.\n\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1745\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3497469_edit-1024x369.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3497469_edit-1024x369.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3497469_edit-300x108.jpg 300w, https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3497469_edit-768x276.jpg 768w, https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3497469_edit-600x216.jpg 600w, https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3497469_edit.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/>\n\nThis is why there has never been a lawsuit in the use of AEDs in Canada. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/how-the-good-samaritan-law-protects-bystanders-when-giving-first-aid-cpr-aed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Good Samaritan Law<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/laws\/statute\/07c10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chase McEachern Act<\/a>\u00a0protect the public from any legal action when they are trying to help a patient and use an AED.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Please\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/programs\/become-a-willing-bystander\/\">Become a willing bystander\u2122<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>your family, friends, coworkers and community members will all be happy did!\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AEDs Are Everywhere \u2014 So Why Aren\u2019t Survival Rates Improving? The government and businesses have purchased thousands of AEDs, they are virtually everywhere and yet the survival rates haven\u2019t improved. We still have &lt;5% survival rate and yet the rare times when the public starts CPR and uses an AED the survival rates are more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.blackbikemedia.com\/rfa771\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}