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County approves applying for AED grant to equip inmate transport vehicles
Summary
The board authorized staff to apply for a small AED grant that would place an automated external defibrillator in a corrections transport vehicle; training, device registration and maintenance procedures were discussed.
The Merrimack County Board of Commissioners authorized staff to apply for a grant to purchase an automated external defibrillator (AED) for county transport vehicles.
Kim Rose, identified herself as the county’s director of medical compliance and an RN, told the board that adding an AED to transport vehicles would improve the county’s capacity to respond to cardiac arrest during long transports to out-of-county courts or medical facilities. “If we just did CPR alone out there on the road, the survival rate is about 9 percent. And if you use an AED, and deliver a shot, the survival rate is about 38 percent,” Rose said. She told the board the device cost is about $1,100 and the grant would cap funding at about $1,300.
Rose said staff would register the AED, which she described as a routine statutory requirement, and that first-responders on staff receive CPR and AED training every two years. She added that batteries and pads must be replaced on a standard schedule and that a used AED can be reconditioned for further service by replacing consumables.
A motion to approve applying for the AED grant was moved, seconded and carried by voice vote. Commissioners complimented staff for assembling the grant materials.
If awarded, funds would be used to place at least one portable AED in a corrections transport vehicle and to register and maintain that device under the county’s medical-compliance regime.
