By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Fort Wright City Council authorized the purchase of 13 portable Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) for the city’s thirteen police cruisers at the regular council meeting this week.
An AED is a medical device designed to analyze the heart rhythm and deliver an electric shock to victims of ventricular fibrillation to restore the heart rhythm to normal.
Mayor Dave Hatter found out that the city of Southgate had purchased the AEDs for their police cruisers, and he consulted with Police Chief Ed Butler to see if he thought it was an appropriate purchase for Ft Wright.
“We looked into outfitting each police cruiser with an AED some time ago, but these devices were more expensive, and our financial situation was not as good as it is now, so we chose to pass at that time,” Hatter explained. “We recently became aware that another Northern Kentucky city moved to outfit their cruisers with AEDs, so I asked our police chief to look into it and report back to council. Our financial position is much better now and AED prices have dropped so council decided to move ahead with the purchase.”
Since they had discussed the subject before, it wasn’t a surprise to Chief Butler.
“I told him I thought it was a great idea,” Chief Butler. “When I worked at Kenton County they had the units in all their cruisers, and they definitely used them when they were called out.”
Of course, the city’s Life Squad has their own AED unit, so when Chief Butler asked Fire Chief Steve Schewe about which type of unit to buy, Schewe asked if they could get the same kind as the Life Squad has so they can interchange them if necessary on a call.
The manufacturer of the AED unit is Stryker, which is a company many Fire Departments use. The unit is the Lifepak CR II.
Chief Butler said the issue was discussed at the caucus meeting in January, and since everyone seemed to be in favor of the purchase, it was brought up at the council meeting and voted on quickly.
“The price, however, went up from the price I had at the caucus meeting,” said Butler. “The total cost, with a maintenance agreement that makes sure everything is working correctly, and 13 units is $74,400. The cost per unit is $2,825. The price hike cost us about $5,000.”
The money will be used from the ARPA money which the city received from the Federal Government due to the Covid pandemic.
Butler said that sometimes a police car will arrive at the emergency before other vehicles, usually because of proximity, so in those cases the AED can be used until the Life Squad arrives.
“We will deploy the unit to the Non-Responsive Person calls if it fits the criteria,” said Butler. “People have been talking about the units since Damar Hamlin had to be revived with an AED on the football field at a Bengal game. Before that, a lot of high schools installed AED units when some years ago a young man died on the soccer field at St Henry High School. They do save lives.”
The units do not require a lot of training, other than what the officers already have. They are fairly self-explanatory, and the machine will tell the operator when and if to shock, and when shock is not indicated, according to Butler.
He feels that having an AED in the police cruisers adds an extra layer of protection for residents. Hatter agrees.
“Adding an AED to each cruiser will improve public safety and save lives because police officers are often the first responders at an incident, and will not have to wait for the Fire Department to arrive in order to render lifesaving aid,” said Hatter. “I commend council for making this important investment in public safety for our residents and for the entire community, since our police department participates in Mutual Aid with our neighboring communities, and officers who take their cruisers home can respond whenever an incident occurs.”