(by Nicola Simonetti) The "Salva Vita" law passed to the Chamber of Deputies on July 30 2019 thanks to the unanimity of parliamentary votes provides for the free use of the AED in all public places, including schools, without criminal responsibility.
The “Progetto Vita” of Piacenza by Prof. Capucci, clinical director of cardiology and rhythmology, polythene university of the Marche - born 20 years ago, nor is it the first inspirer.
After passing the Chamber of Deputies with unanimous vote (no opposite and no abstention) last July 30, the bill commonly called "Save Life" and which provides for "Provisions regarding the use of semiautomatic and automatic defibrillators in a hospital environment" , is now stopped in the Senate Commission for a formal quibble: he expects the appointment of the new president of the Commission to be able to ratify it and turn it into law. In Parliament there is talk of waiting a few more weeks, but it is good to know that exactly 21 years, in the 1998, Alessandro Capucci conceived and realized the Piacenza Life Project and founded the "Il Cuore di Piacenza" Association, fine-tuning the characteristics of ready use of defibrillators by lay people who have then become the same guidelines as the national law "Salva Vita" (supervisor Hon. Giorgio Mulè).
"Defibrillation is the most important therapy to save oneself from a cardiac arrest - confirms Capucci - the more extensive the installation of defibrillators, the more the knowledge of this medium is widespread, the more human lives are saved."
In 20 years of Progetto Vita experience in Piacenza I understood how important the work of networks and synergy between the institutions and the 118 is. It must be made viral and functional. It is therefore necessary a database, at least regional (if not National), which collects data related to the positioning of semi-automatic or automatic defibrillators, and to all the interventions performed by them. Next to each device, wherever it is, there must be simple, short (cartoon) and clear information that can guide anyone to its use. Even elementary school children (in the proposed law of middle schools) can learn what to do for example in the event of a cardiac arrest of a relative, or a friend. This education can take place without stress but at the level of play.
Let us not delude ourselves that cardiac arrests, that sudden death can only happen to elderly people. It can happen to everyone, even young people, as repeatedly reported by the news.
Knowing how the semi-automatic defibrillator works should become viral like making a phone call or sending a message with a smartphone.
My idea of 20 years ago was the same as the law passed in the Chamber of Deputies in July. Equipping all public places with an automatic defibrillator, disseminating knowledge to all citizens, and ensuring that anyone, even without having done a specific course, can use it.
The AED is automatic or semi-automatic, which means that it is perfectly capable of making the correct diagnosis and guiding, in speaking, its correct use.
All you have to do is apply the self-adhesive pads to the chest, turn it on and follow the voice instructions. No criminal or civil liability for its use. “The cost of the device, which is now very convenient and costs less than a latest-generation mobile phone, and its use, even simpler than then, because now it is enough to push a button that the device speaks and guides the person step by step, makes this life-saver accessible to all.
Not only! In Piacenza in these 20 years 123 people were saved with interventions by non-nurses and non-medical people from sudden death that had arisen outside the hospital (at home, in public places or sports centers).
And this in one city! If projected on a national level this data becomes fundamental and makes us understand how essential it is to have this life-saving instrument.
Survival for sudden death in Piacenza has tripled compared to 118 alone.
The numbers:
- 14 are the European countries where, without specific training, the defibrillator can be used
- 70000 are the annual victims of cardiac arrest in Italy.
- 10 are the minutes in which in case of intervention the possibility of salvation persist
- 6,4% is the percentage of use of the AED in an extra-hospital environment (from stadiums to gyms, from schools to bars ...) in Italy
- 15-20% is the percentage of use of the AED in extra-hospital environment in Europe
- 4 - 5 are the most crucial minutes for a survival from the 50% event
- 1 minute delay in administering the electric shock reduces 5-10% the possibility of restoring heart function and keeping the brain intact
- 59,3% is the percentage of survival from extra-hospital cardiac arrest in the Netherlands, 25% that of Switzerland in patients with demonstrated ventricular fibrillation
- 93% (14 vine on 15 vine) is the survival rate of people affected by cardiac arrest in Piacenza in sports facilities where there was the AED
- 8% (1 life on 11 lives) is the survival rate of people affected by cardiac arrest in Piacenza in sports facilities where there was NO AED
- 84% of cardiac arrests take place at home. There are very few private homes with DAEs. While all homes have at least one computer, a television and a cell phone per inhabitant
- 0,5% of cardiac arrests take place during training or while doing sport
- 118 is the number to call immediately to activate emergency assistance in the event of cardiac arrest. In the meantime the 118 operators will guide the rescue maneuvers, to indicate where the nearest defibrillator is and to give explanations on how to use it
- 123 the people saved in these 20 years and come back to life in Piacenza thanks to the defibrillator positioned in public places and in the machines of law enforcement
- 900 the defibrillators located between Piacenza and the province
- 000 are the people in Piacenza and the province who have attended a training course, of 2 hours, based only on the use of the AED without performing ventilation and cardiac massage.