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By SUSIE STOUGHTON
SUFFOLK - Dr. Jeffrey B. Persons imagined that someday his gift to
the YMCA might be used on a senior citizen pumping iron in the weight
room, a fitness freak playing a feverish game on the racquetball court or
an out-of-shape swimmer in the pool.
But, within days of its installation last month, two YMCA staff members used the automated external defibrillator, or AED, to save the life of Sharon Faunce, a receptionist at the facility's front desk.
Faunce, 51, credits co-workers Cindy Butts and Lorraine Worrell with saving her life when she suffered sudden cardiac arrest on May 26. And without Persons' generous gift of a defibrillator, they would have been helpless, she said.
``I can't say how much I appreciate Dr. Persons' gift,'' Faunce said Monday. Butts and Worrell, among eight staffers who have been trained on the AED, recognized that Faunce was not feeling well that morning. And Jacque Edwards, a retired nurse exercising in the pool, got out to help. Butts had Faunce lie down. When chest pains continued, 911 was called. ``She was gasping for air,'' Butts said.
By the time Worrell returned with the automatic external defibrillator, Faunce had stopped breathing, she said. They quickly opened the box and followed the easy, audible instructions.``The Lord put people in the right place at the right time,'' Faunce said. The Nansemond-Suffolk Volunteer Rescue Squad arrived within minutes and transported her to a hospital.
The American Heart Association estimates that about 225,000 Americans die of sudden cardiac arrest each year, most due to rhythm disturbance called ventricular fibrillation. Chances of survival decrease by up to 10 percent for each minute without defibrillation, according to the AHA.
The AED Defibrillator used at the YMCA has a built-in computer that assesses the heart rhythm, judges whether defibrillation is needed, then administers an electric shock through the chest wall to the heart. All Suffolk rescue squads and fire stations have manual and semiautomatic defibrillators, said Tony Stewart, spokesman for the Nansemond-Suffolk Volunteer Rescue Squad. The use of automatic external defibrillators by the public provides a vital link in rescue care, he said.
Though some area businesses and shopping malls have AEDs, the Suffolk Y is the first YMCA in South Hampton Roads to have one. The cost, between $3,500 and $4,000, is often a deterrent.
Persons, a Suffolk orthopedic surgeon who works out at the Y, didn't want to wait for a committee to study the need for an AED, he said. So he ``stroked a check'' that enabled the Y staff to buy the AED and train their full-time employees on its use. ``A week later, instead of some old out-of-shape guy working out, it was an employee'' who needed it, Persons said. ``Who would have thought?'' he said. ``God works in strange ways.''
Faunce also made a donation to the Y on Monday. Now taking medication to stabilize her heart, she plans to return to work later this week. And one of her priorities is to be trained on how to use the AED. You never know when someone on the treadmill might need her, she said.
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