A new bill in South Carolina requires all High Schools to have AEDs onsite. The South Carolina newspaper The State reports on this exciting decision that may help to save countless lives.

Life-saving device required in S.C. schools
Lawmakers reject Sanford’s veto, order all high schools to have defibrillators

By GINA SMITH
The State http://www.thestate.com
gnsmith@thestate.com
6/6/2008

All of the state’s high schools soon must keep on hand a device that can give an electric shock to the heart of a student in cardiac distress and be the difference between life and death.

Thursday, House and Senate lawmakers struck down Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a bill that mandates all high schools to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) and to train some school staff to use it.

AEDs are designed for use by nonmedical personnel such as teachers and coaches to help someone in cardiac arrest.

“I feel good,” said bill sponsor Rep. Jackie Hayes, D-Dillon and head football coach at Dillon High School. “You never know in athletics when someone has an irregular heartbeat and is at risk. This could save lives.”

AEDs have become a hot topic in the Midlands in recent years. The devices first gained local attention after six student athletes in the Midlands died suddenly of undetected heart ailments between 2002 and 2005.

Heart screenings, which involve electrocardiograms and echocardiograms, often can detect heart abnormalities before they cause a problem. But some heart ailments escape detection.

That is why coaches and parents have pushed for AEDs in schools as a relatively low-cost and simple-to-use safety measure.

“(AEDs) are pretty dummy-proof. All you have to do is put the patches on the person and push the button. It does everything else itself,” Hayes said.

Parents like Claude Helton of Sumter County say the new law is a necessity.

Helton’s son, Brandon “B.J.” Helton, was a 16-year-old Crestwood High basketball player who collapsed and died in 2005 following a game. An autopsy revealed B.J. Helton had an enlarged heart that hadn’t been detected.

“Even if it doesn’t save but one life, it’s worth it. You can’t put a price on that,” said Claude Helton, who thinks an AED might have saved his son’s life. “We have them on the job where I work. I don’t understand why the schools wouldn’t have them.”

While the bill now becomes law, it will be 2009 or later before every school gets an AED.

The new measure does not go into effect until the state comes up with up to $387,000 to buy the devices for high schools that don’t already have one.

Hayes speculates the cost will be closer to $150,000 because about 120 of the state’s 256 public high schools are already equipped with the devices.

In January, lawmakers will learn if there is any budget money left over to enact the law.

Hayes hopes school leaders won’t wait. He’s encouraging them to look to their local hospitals and other private resources to buy the devices, which cost between $1,200 and $3,000, now.

Sanford vetoed the legislation on the grounds of cost, saying the federal government or private resources should pick up the tab.

A majority of legislators, including Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Richland, a senior member of the Senate Education Committee, disagreed.

“I think we should have these things in all our schools because they save the lives of our young people,” Patterson said, noting the Midlands already has suffered because of a lack of the devices.

Staff Writer Roddie Burris contributed to this report.
Reach Smith at (803) 771-8658.
http://www.thestate.com/education/story/426194.html