Over 200,000 Americans die of sudden cardiac arrest every year. Up to 50,000 of these deaths could have been prevented if an automated external defibrillator (AED) had been available and someone had initiated the Cardiac Chain of Survival, immediately at the time of the emergency.
About the size of a laptop computer, an AED is a computerized device that analyzes the heart rhythm and prompts a rescuer to deliver an electrical shock if needed. When AEDs are used in conjunction with CPR, they can increase survival rates between 50 and 80 percent.