We also carry the Philips FRx AED. This Automatic External Defibrillator does require a doctors prescription. This defibrillator uses a Key to go from Adult use to Infant/Child use. The FRx operates in the same manner as the Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator and the Philips HeartStart Onsite Defibrillator. The Home and OnSite Defibrillators use Adult SMART Pads for adults and children older than 8 year of age or weigh over 55 pounds. The Home and Onsite Defibrillators need the Infant/Child SMART Pads for children under age 8 or weighing less than 55 pounds.

We also carry the FR2+ Defibrillator which is used by either BLS or ACLS trained members of in-hospital early defibrillation programs.

If you are interested in any of the Defibrillators that are NOT used in the Home, let us know and we will be happy to work with you. We have been helping businesses, schools, state agencies, etc set up resuscitation programs.

Consider the other essential safety equipment you own to protect your loved ones in case of an emergency. Fire extinguishers. Smoke detectors. Seat belts. Airbags. Now consider the likelihood of needing this equipment.

Yes. For Children younger than 8 years old or those who weigh less than 55 pounds, special HeartStart Infant/Child SMART Pads are recommended. When used with these special pads, the HeartStart delivers less energy and the optional CPR instructions are tailored for use on a child.

Infants and children more often become unresponsive due to breathing or other issues than to heart problems. Perform CPR first before calling for 911/EMS or using the HeartStart.

For children 8 years or older, or who weigh 55 pounds or more, use the adult pads that come with the HeartStart.

The Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator is designed to be fast to learn and easy to use. You can be confident that the device will talk you through each step of its use in an emergency situation

HeartStart provides coaching for adult/child CPR with voice instructions and timing cues for each breath, the appropriate number and rate of chest compressions, and the duration that CPR should be performed. Users should have training in CPR and defibrillator use. Many training organizations offer a combined course.

Click here to find a preferred provider of training on the HeartStart Home Defibrillator in your community.

To find a Red Cross CPR and AED training class in your community, click here and look for the "Find Your Local Red Cross" on the left-hand navigation bar, then enter your zip code. You can also call us at 1.866.DEFIBHOME (1.866.333.4246).

To find an American Heart Association AED, CPR or First Aid training class in your community, click here for "Find an emergency cardiovascular care class." You can also call us at 1.866.DEFIBHOME (1.866.333.4246).

To find a MEDIC FIRST AID AED, CPR or First Aid training class in your community, click here to visit the MEDIC FIRST AID Training Referral List. You can also call us at 1.866.DEFIBHOME (1.866.333.4246).

What is SCA?

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is an electrical malfunction of the heart, disrupting that muscle's normal rhythm. If untreated, this abrupt loss of heart function results in sudden cardiac death within minutes of onset.

There are two parts to the normal heart (or cardiac) function: mechanical and electrical. The mechanical part is the pumping action, which is felt as a pulse, each time the heart muscle contracts. The heart has its own pacemaker, a group of cells called the sinus node (or sino-atrial node). These cells send out electrical signals, usually between 60 and 100 times each minute. The signals travel along special conduction pathways in the heart walls and stimulate the muscle tissue to contract. The rate of the signals changes depending on a person's needs.

For example, when exercising, the sinus node tells your heart to beat faster, and when sleeping, your heart rate slows down.

The heart's electrical system regulates the mechanical system, and in a healthy heart, the result is the rhythmic and coordinated beating of the heart.

SCA occurs when the heart's pumping chambers (ventricles) suddenly stop contracting effectively. As a result, the heart assumes an abnormal, chaotic rhythm, causing the heart muscle to twitch spasmodically. The heart then loses its ability to effectively pump blood. This activity is called ventricular fibrillation (VF). Because the heart is not pumping blood, a person in VF usually has no detectable pulse. They suddenly become unresponsive, stop breathing, and could die if treatment is not received in minutes. VF causes more cardiac arrests than any other life-threatening rhythm and can occur suddenly, without warning.

Brain death and permanent death start to occur in just four to six minutes after someone experiences SCA. However, SCA can be reversed if it's treated within a few minutes. This treatment, called defibrillation, is an immediate electric shock to the heart to restore a normal heartbeat.

Defibrillation, the third link in the Chain of Survival, can stop VF before it turns into sudden cardiac death. However, defibrillation must occur soon after the onset of an attack. A victim's chances of surviving SCA decrease by 7-10% with every minute that passes without this life-saving shock. Few attempts at resuscitation succeed after 10 minutes.

SCA is unpredictable. Although the average victim is about 60 years old, SCA can affect anyone, regardless of their age, race, or gender.

However, according to the National Center for Early Defibrillation, some conditions can put people at greater risk for SCA. These conditions include:

• Age greater than 40 (men)
• Post-menopausal status (women)
• Inactive lifestyle
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Diabetes
• History of heart disease (either personal or in the family)

Unfortunately, SCA can affect children as well as adults. Some causes of pediatric SCA include SIDS, trauma or accident (e.g., electrocution, drowning, overdose/ poisoning), illness, and congenital heart disease. A hard blow to the chest (such as with a baseball) can also trigger cardiac arrest

Over time, the need for pediatric defibrillation became increasingly apparent. For instance, the American Heart Association observed that "...although VF is not a common arrhythmia in children, it is observed in as many as 15% of pediatric and adolescent arrests. And a recent study of the Houston EMS system calculated that in the United States, about 16,000 children under age 17 die annually due to unexpected pediatric cardiopulmonary arrest. Current studies estimate ventricular fibrillation (VF) in 6%-19% of pediatric cardiac arrest cases.

Today, there is one AED that can be used on small children and infants. This AED can accurately analyze pediatric heart rhythms, and use pediatric defibrillation pads that deliver a shock reduced to pediatric levels, making the therapy appropriate for infants and small children in cardiac arrest.

Philips offers an Adult SMART Pads Practice Kit (Sold separately). When installed in the HeartStart, these special-purpose, reusable pads suspend its ability to deliver a shock and activate its training mode. A practice mat comes with the pads. HeartStart's voice instructions, including CPR coaching, will be appropriate for treating the simulated patient.

As an added training bonus, HeartStart also comes with discounted coupons for CPR training at the American Red Cross, American Heart Association or Medic First Aid.

*Wipets are sold separately.

Even though 50% of men and 63% of women fall victim to SCA without any prior symptoms of heart disease, the American Heart Association cites several conditions or situations that may lead to SCA.

Underlying heart disease - either known or unknown - is nearly always found in victims of SCA. Typically in adults this takes the form of atherosclerosis. In 90% of adult victims of SCA, two or more major coronary arteries are narrowed by atherosclerosis; scarring from a prior heart attack is found in two-thirds of the victims. Therefore, the risk factors for SCA include similar risk factors for atherosclerosis, such as smoking and high blood pressure.

A heart that's scarred or enlarged from any cause is prone to develop life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. The first six months after a heart attack is a particularly high-risk period for SCA in patients with atherosclerotic heart disease. A thickened heart muscle from any cause (typically high blood pressure or valvular heart disease) - especially when there's congestive heart failure too - is an important predisposing factor for SCA.

Under certain conditions, various heart medications can set the stage for arrhythmias that cause SCA. In particular, so-called "antiarrhythmic" drugs, even at normally prescribed doses, sometimes may produce lethal ventricular arrhythmias ("proarrhythmic" effect). Regardless of whether there's organic heart disease, significant changes in blood levels of potassium and magnesium (from using diuretics, for example) also can cause life-threatening arrhythmias and cardiac arrest.

In people without organic heart disease, recreational drug abuse is an important cause of SCA.

Less often, inborn blood vessel abnormalities, particularly in the coronary arteries and aorta, may be present in young sudden death victims. Adrenaline released during intense physical or athletic activity often acts as a trigger for SCA when these predisposing conditions are present.

Other factors such as respiratory arrest, electrocution, auto accident, drowning, choking, or trauma can cause SCA. With children, it can also occur from SIDS, overdose, poisoning, and illness. A hard blow to the chest can bring on cardiac arrest, as seen in children struck by a baseball or playing lacrosse.

The term "massive heart attack" is sometimes mistakenly used to describe SCA. A heart attack (or myocardial infarction) occurs when a blockage slows or stops blood flow to some part of the heart muscle. If the blockage is severe or if it is left untreated, that part of the heart muscle can die. Heart attacks do not necessarily cause cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death, although those conditions could result.

Heart attack and SCA produce different symptoms in their victims. Whereas SCA causes a person to collapse suddenly, a heart attack often provides some warning signs in advance.

• Collapse and loss of consciousness
• Cessation of normal breathing
• Loss of pulse and blood pressure

• Uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing, or pain in the center of the chest lasting more than a few minutes
• Pain spreading to the shoulders, neck, or arms
• Chest discomfort with light-headedness, fainting, sweating, nausea, or shortness of breath
• Atypical chest pain, stomach, or abdominal pain
• Nausea or dizziness
• Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing
• Unexplained anxiety, weakness, or fatigue
• Palpitations, cold sweat, or palenes

Every minute the heart remains in that erratic rhythm, known as ventricular fibrillation, survival rates decrease by ten percent. While cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can often help delay damage to the brain and heart by providing oxygen to these organs, one thing is certain. Only a shock from a defibrillator will make the heart go back into normal rhythm.

Norma Morley watched numbly as two physicians who sitting in the stands ran down to the field and started CPR on her son. One parent called 911 while another ran up to the adjacent Deerfield police department and flagged down an officer. By an astonishing stroke of luck, six Deerfield squad cars had recently been equipped with Philips portable automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Officer Geoff Ruther grabbed his defibrillator and ran onto the field. He attached the electrode pads and, following the voice prompts, pressed the flashing button indicating "Shock Advised." Immediately the electrical shock restored an organized rhythm, and blood surged through Sean's heart once again.

The paramedics arrived moments later and Sean was hospitalized overnight for observation. Aside from having a hard time catching his breath the first night, and being very tired, Sean had no pain or discomfort. "I was really hungry," he remembered. "I was ready to eat dinner." Sean was incredibly lucky that events happened the way they did that day and a defibrillator was close by when it was needed. Unfortunately, paramedics and police can't always get there so quickly. That's why schools around the country are equipping their campuses with defibrillators.

Death to life in mere moments. The miracle of a stopped heart being started again is one of the most dramatic scenes to witness. In places where early defibrillation programs have been successfully deployed, survival rates from SCA are being significantly improved by these "miracles in boxes"called defibrillators that are meant to be used by minimally trained citizen responders as well as highly trained medical personnel.

"Automated external defibrillators are changing the face of survival from one of the nation's leading killers. They have the potential to be the greatest single advance in the treatment of cardiac arrest along with CPR."

-- Denise Gerlach, American Heart Association

Sean Morley's dramatic cardiac arrest from commotio cordis, or a blow to the chest, may be more common than realized. Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation researchers found that any blow to the chest is capable of producing cardiac arrest, especially in younger children with narrow rib cages and underdeveloped chest muscles. Deaths have resulted from being hit in the chest by softballs, baseballs, hollow toy baseball bats and snowballs.

Yet most sudden cardiac arrests in young people are caused by undetected congenital defects. While many states require students to pass a physical, students are often not asked about past chest pain or a family history of sudden cardiac arrest. The number of sudden cardiac deaths in the 15-34 age group rose ten percent from 1989 to 1996, according to the American Heart Association. Recently New York became the first state in the nation to require defibrillators in schools due to the efforts of John and Karen Acompora, who lost their 14-year-old son Louis to sudden cardiac arrest while playing lacrosse. Pennsylvania soon followed, and many other states have pending legislation. Chicago Public Schools recently joined the growing list of schools around the country that are implementing campus defibrillation programs using Philips HeartStart defibrillators.

Having defibrillators at schools not only benefits students, faculty and staff members. Schools often host sporting, cultural and community events with thousands of parents, visitors, and other guests on school grounds throughout the year.

Today, Sean happily runs laps in practice as a starter on the freshman basketball team at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Near his gym is a defibrillator that was purchased after the father of girls' basketball coach Frank Mattucci collapsed and suffered a fatal heart attack while watching a championship game in the stands several years ago.

Sean's biggest decision now is whether to play for the baseball or volleyball team in the spring. "I think back and really feel lucky," he exclaims. "Whenever I hear about another person being saved by a defibrillator, I wonder why everyone doesn't have one."

• A Sturdy Red Carry Case
• Adult SMART Pads Cartridge
• 4-Year Lithium Battery
• A Five Year Warranty
• A "Quick Start" Poster
• An Owner's Manual
• Quick Reference Guide
• A Short Training Videotape, "How To Use Your HeartStart Home Defibrillator," to help you get familiar with the device. We recommend that anyone who might use the HeartStart watch the video and read these materials.
• Discounted Coupons for CPR training at the American Red Cross, American Heart Association or Medic First Aid.