Transcripts

"Bill of Health"-The ABC's of AED Placement

SUSIE GHARIB: When a heart attack strikes suddenly, seconds count. That's why more and more automatic electronic defibrillators or AEDs as they're called, are showing up in airports and other public spaces. One place you're not likely to find the compact life-saving devices is in most schools. But as Jeff Yastine reports in his latest "Bill of Health," one woman wants to change that after her own personal tragedy.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It was the last basketball game Greg Moyer would ever play. It was the year 2000 and the 15- year-old played the first half, then collapsed in the locker room and died that night, the victim of sudden cardiac arrest. His death led his mother Rachel to adopt a new life's work: saving some of the 7,000 to 10,000 kids and teenagers who die each year from sudden cardiac arrest. She wants to make sure AEDs, automatic external defibrillators -- the same ones mounted on walls at airports, malls and other public spaces -- are installed in schools and school athletic facilities.

RACHEL MOYER, CO-FOUNDER, PARENTHEARTWATCH.ORG: Our life will never be the same. We will never ever be happy the way a family deserves to be happy, because no matter what we do or how good it is...

YASTINE: The thought of AEDs in schools is not without controversy. Each death of a child from sudden cardiac arrest is a tragic event, but those deaths amount to a tiny fraction of the 80 million or so school-age children in the country. So why should states or local school boards spend the money to install and maintain defibrillator devices in schools?

MOYER: With my son, it was a $70 million school that had a $50,000 scoreboard and they had defibrillators in their budget, and they cut it because they said it's just so rare. So I think our fight is to say, it's not that rare. It's better to have one and not use it. It should be like fire extinguishers. I've been a teacher for 20 years and I have never witnessed a fire in a school, but we know there's one on every floor and we know we have to have a certain number of fire drills every year.

YASTINE: That message has found ready support from manufacturers of automatic external defibrillators, such as Cardiac Science and its president and CEO John Hinson.

JOHN HINSON, PRESIDENT & CEO, CARDIAC SCIENCE: It's important to recognize that this is a significant problem. The 7,000 to 10,000 deaths of children as a result of SCA can be prevented by the deployment of AEDs to reduce the response time. And I think it's a very straightforward process that we and other organizations can help school districts with.

YASTINE: The campaign to put automatic external defibrillators in schools appears to be slowly paying off, with at least six states approving legislation or funding for such devices. For Rachael Moyer though, she'll continue to lobby, believing that having more AEDs in schools will mean fewer deaths of children through sudden cardiac arrest. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Miami.