Thinking about having a heart attack? Do it in Nanjing. Even better, make sure you’re in a metro station, as the Jiangsu capital has become second in the country to achieve citywide coverage of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).
In December of 2019, this publication reported on the distribution of AEDs in Nanjing, noting it to be far below expectations for a city of this size and supposed stature.
That’s all changed, as the total number of AEDs installed in Nanjing now exceeds 2,000. Media outlet, The Paper, learned from the Nanjing Red Cross that after Shenzhen, Nanjing has become the second city in the country and the first in the Yangtze River Delta to achieve full AED coverage in stations.
According to the “China Cardiovascular Disease Health and Disease Report 2019”, there are as many as 550,000 sudden cardiac deaths in China each year, equivalent to 1 death per minute.
Nanjing has almost reached the top of the league table after learning from an incident in May, 2019. Following a 27-year-old woman suddenly falling to the ground after exercising in a gym, a fitness trainer came to the rescue. Borrowing the AED from nearby Mufuyuan Metro Station and cooperating with Nanjing Metro staff, they were able to provide timely resuscitation, successfully saving the lady’s life.
In 2020 alone, 900 AEDs were installed in public places In Nanjing, while another 500 will be deployed this year. Elsewhere, with their massive populations, Shanghai has only managed to deploy 1,100 AEDS and even bigger Beijing a mere 1,000.
But the numbers could all too easily become irrelevant. Li Jian, Secretary General of the Nanjing Red Cross, said, “It’s not enough to have a machine. Someone needs to know how to use it”.
As a result, the Red Cross has locally rolled out a program whereby citizens can master the emergency treatment in as little as half a day. The three international first aid techniques taught are bare-handed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, AED operation and abdominal thrusts (previously known as the Heimlich manoeuvre).
AED is a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, medical device first-aid device that can perform electrical defibrillation in patients with heart attacks and help restore heart rhythm in patients with ventricular fibrillation. An AED device is like a point-and-shoot camera. Providing voice prompts, the rescuer need just follow along.
