Gina Tenorio, Staff Writer
COLTON, CA -- Police officers trained to protect lives now have a greater chance of saving lives.
Earlier this month, the Colton Police Department finished installing an automated external defibrillator in every patrol car. The machine searches heart rhythms for abnormalities and tells the user if the victim needs a life-saving electrical shock.
By providing police with them, Colton administrators hope to put the seconds between police response and paramedics’ arrival to good use.
“If it’s something that is heart-related, chest pains, shortness of breath, it’s our policy to dispatch police,” Lt. Chuck Dedianous said. “Police cars are already out in the field. The fire engines get dispatched from the station. Any amount of time we can cut off from the time they get help will help.”
The staff, from patrol officers to volunteers, are trained and ready. By Thursday night, they had not had a chance to use a defibrillator, Dedianous said.
“When you’re talking about cardiac arrest, the whole issue revolves around time,” Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann said. “Permanent brain damage sets in in about four minutes,” the chief added. “In about seven minutes, you’re dead.”
Colton joined a handful of other law-enforcement agencies throughout the county, including Chino and Redlands, that have purchased and deployed the devices. Chino police have the devices in select cars while Redlands officers have been using them successfully for five years, Bueermann said.
Chino police would like to equip all of their patrol cars with the defibrillators by the end of this year, said Sgt. Mark Foster, field supervisor with the Chino Police Department. The department has 15, six of them used in the field. The others are placed throughout the civic center and at various city facilities.
“Right now, we have at least one unit out there at all times that has one,” Foster said.
Other departments are still researching ways to pay for the defibrillators. Montclair police are actively considering options to fund the purchase of the machines, Officer Andrew Graziano said.
In a number of instances, officers have often been first on the scene simply because they’ve already been in the area on patrol, he said. The officers can then use the device to determine what condition the victim is in, the men said.
The device is easy to use.
“When you open the machine it tells you what to do,” Dedianous said.
It has a key that allows officers to use the machine on children and infants and also stops the officer from applying a shock unless it’s necessary, he said.
“It shows the user where to apply the pads on the different-aged patients,” Dedianous said.
Because chances of surviving a heart-attack drop with every minute that goes by without treatment, Colton officials estimated the device will increase survival rates as much as 74 percent.
The department paid less than $34,000 for the machines because the money is from asset seizure funds, primarily from drug convictions, Dedianous explained. There’s a lengthy process to get the funding and officials are pleased that no general funds were used.
Twenty machines were purchased. The department donated one to Colton High School and placed several in other city buildings, including the Police Department.
Redlands has also placed them at various locations.
Having the defibrillators has been successful and has given officers and staff peace-of-mind.
“I’m glad that they’re here in case something happens to one of us or to me. They save lives,” Foster said.
March 26, 2006