Do You Know Where Your AED is At?

From MedGadget:

Richard Lazar, the inventor of the ResQPod Circulatory Enhancer for CPR, is continuing his efforts to improve the survival of cardiac arrest patients. Through his company, Atrus Inc., he is beginning to market new software that will help first responders to locate nearby AED's (Automated External Defibrillator).

When bystanders perform immediate CPR, it buys time until an AED can be retrieved to shock a heart back to a normal beat.

Though AEDs are more common in public places, they are often not used in an emergency. "People are dying in places where an AED existed, but it was not used," says Richard Lazar, a lawyer who specializes in AED legislation and is a member of the Take Heart America team.Austin has taken steps to fix the problem. When an Austin 911 dispatcher types in "cardiac arrest," an alert pops up on the computer screen if an AED has been registered at that address.
But if the cardiac arrest occurs next door or across the street, nobody knows an AED is nearby. For example, if a person collapses in a bank that does not have an AED but a defibrillator sits idle at the Starbucks next door, "that AED is invisible," Lazar says.

Lazar has developed a system sold through his company, Atrus Inc., that tracks AEDs and shows dispatchers where they are on a map. He estimates Austin now uses AEDs in public places to treat cardiac-arrest victims two to 10 times a year. If the city uses his system showing 911 dispatchers how close an AED might be to a person in cardiac arrest, he predicts, the city could use the same number of AEDs 89 times a year.