A fascinating video came in my inbox this morning. The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation posted a video for a new AED from Avive currently in the process of FDA approval. What is unique is not that it is an AED because the company admits that science is sound. What they hope to do is have an AED come to the site of a cardiac arrest within 4 minutes of collapse. When I read that, I thought, "Huh? It has legs or something?" Maybe, I thought, it was about getting AEDs cheap enough that they become more attainable. While I still hope it will be more cost effective and easier to maintain, it was their promotional video that prompted me to pass on the information. I will include the video so you can judge for yourself, and the first part looks like a price-reduction-based commercial, but to sum up, the Avive AEDs are connected so that they can be activated by a 911 dispatcher and the closest AEDs will sound an alarm and show directions to the victim. This does seem like a game changer. I feel lucky that I am in a neighborhood where EMS is not far away, even still, if my neighbor had an AED that was potentially activated, this could buy me minutes if I went into cardiac arrest. Every minute counts. Going back to the science, every minute that care is delayed cuts a person's chance of survival, so even a single minute's reduction in AED access increases survival. I'll take it. I just hope this will be reasonably priced. Affordability is going to be paramount to Avive's success. Bottom line, if it isn't less expensive than the competition, there won't be enough of these AEDs to reach the 4-minute goal.
Here is the link to the promotional video: Avive AED
... And a link to their website: Avive