Darrell Issa: “The automated external defibrillator is a critical part of saving lives here in America. In the first 10 minutes of an…”

“The automated external defibrillator is a critical part of saving lives here in America. In the first 10 minutes of an onset of symptoms, you have an incredibly short period of time, that 10 minutes, to make the difference between life and death. A typical response time, an optimum response time, for a 911 call is 5 minutes. The availability of these devices, once thought to be only in the crash kit on an emergency vehicle or in a hospital, is now spreading. At our airports, including our Nation's Capital airports, these devices are not just available but they are hung throughout the facility, making it possible, and, in fact, it has occurred, for people who have a heart symptom and pass out to be brought back to life in those 10 minutes, those precious 10 minutes. But in order to expand the use of this lifesaving apparatus, we need to have additional training. I join with the gentleman from Illinois in saying that the importance of this Automatic External Defibrillator Week is not that we can learn to say it without tying our tongue but, in fact, that we can deploy these devices and get people trained.”