AED's on the course?

[apdrvya]

As a Registered Nurse, I am always looking for ways to help in a medical emergency. We had a golfer die on the course last night in my home town very suddenly and I wonder if an AED on site might have saved him. Also, being a remote heavily wooded course it took EMS 25 minutes to get to the scene and 45 minutes to get an AED on site.

Has anyone ever priced or raised funds for (all weather) AED's on the course? What requirements are needed to keep the AED's charged and has anyone else experienced medical emergencies on heavily wooded remote courses and whats the best way to "route" the EMS to the scene?

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, the group he was playing in was 100% sober and there was no warning, he just went down.

thanks everyone for your time. I just want to prevent this from happening again.

 

[knettles]

Sorry to hear about the golfer. Always a shame. Wanting to prevent things like this from happening is great, unfortunately I feel our sport often teeters on the line of being an "extreme sport" simply because of the setting of some of the courses. Some of the rugged, more wooded courses are almost akin to rock climbing or mountain biking due to their remoteness. Areas like that, I don't particularly see it being very viable. However, more populated park courses that have amenities could definitely pick something like this up. I would be interested to hear from someone else with more technical info on the matter.

 

[Chines]

i think you can get refurbished ones for a decent price. I just took a first aid course and the guy who taught the class helped our city buy some for just around town. we have one at the park where our course is.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

My condolences to the family. To be honest, I don't think these devices are common enough in malls, theatres, and stadiums let alone on courses. I suppose you could mount them in waterproof boxes on a post, and make them quite obvious (maybe near the parking lot ), but the only way to keep them charged would be to run electricity out there. Quite doable, but sadly probably won't happen on remote courses. They could probably do it easily in the pavilion at Mason County.

 

[Knarfks]

I don't see how they could be in most courses. They would be instantly stolen and or vandalized. I'm an RN too and see the need for them, I just don't see how idiots would keep their hands off of one in a disc golf course.

 

[markmcc]

I don't see how they could be in most courses. They would be instantly stolen and or vandalized. I'm an RN too and see the need for them, I just don't see how idiots would keep their hands off of one in a disc golf course.

I agree. On the remote courses that I play I wouldn't give them more than a week before some moron stole it, of took a baseball bat to the case. Sad, but true.

 

[turbine712]

I don't see how they could be in most courses. They would be instantly stolen and or vandalized. I'm an RN too and see the need for them, I just don't see how idiots would keep their hands off of one in a disc golf course.

I agree. It would benice to have however you can't even have a picnic table at tee pads without it being carved up or some sort of vandalisation done to it.
Whatwould be nice if everyone knew how to do CPR?

 

[B3NDER]

Where was this at?

 

[B3NDER]

Where did this happen?

 

[Kinsman]

My condolences to the family. To be honest, I don't think these devices are common enough in malls, theatres, and stadiums let alone on courses. I suppose you could mount them in waterproof boxes on a post, and make them quite obvious (maybe near the parking lot ), but the only way to keep them charged would be to run electricity out there. Quite doable, but sadly probably won't happen on remote courses. They could probably do it easily in the pavilion at Mason County.

While we've certainly come a long way in the last decade or so in having them available in public places, I agree there is a lot of room for improvement. It should be pretty standard for any town/state park or wherever the course may be to have one because in most popular parks, DGers are just a small portion of all the park users, and when you add in things like ball fields or bike paths, then you have a lot of users and it could happen to anyone.

That being said, in a lot of cardiac incidents, an AED will not be able to save the patient. AEDs are designed to be easy-to-use by the general public, and direct the user the whole way through the process. After attaching the pads, the electrodes will gather information about the patients heart rhythm and determine whether or not an electric shock is needed to return the heart to normal rhythm. So, if the heart has already stopped or the AED determines that the rhythm isn't shockable, it will tell the user not to shock the patient.

Also, electricity is not required to keep them charged. There are battery-powered devices that are made to be kept in remote places, although they are quite a bit more expensive I believe. The battery pack is designed to last quite a while, and the machine will beep every 30 seconds or so and show a red X when it's time to replace the batteries.

 

[JTacoma03]

I did a double take because at first I read "IED's on the course"

However this is an equally tragic situation. Thoughts go out to the families of those involved.

 

[B3NDER]

oops I am sorry about the double post earlier, if you could have it removed mods :doh:

 

[DavidSauls]

I've known of several incidents of heart attacks on the course and, being of sufficient age, I'd like to have AEDs located every 50 feet. If not paramedics. Just in case.

I'm not sure it's a practical goal for most courses, though. You'd certainly like to see them at staffed, heavily-populated parks, for a start.

As for remoteness, I recognize that I do many things in remote locations where prompt medical treatment is impossible including, sometimes, playing disc golf.

That said, I agree with the earlier post that it would be great if more people knew CPR. I know of one case where a heart-attack victim on a disc golf course was saved because several people nearby administered CPR.

 

[ru4por]

apdrvya, that sucks man. As an RN, I also wish AED's would be made available anywhere. I am willing to bet, bigger parks with more activities, softball, soccer....might have them. Any place with a snack bar, club house, activity center, should have one. They should have one in ranger stations, park headquarters as well. Unfortunately, our course are often void of any of the above and most here are sadly correct, they would just get stolen or trashed.

 

[DavidSauls]

How much do they cost, anyway?

 

[pmatt1969]

Sorry to hear the news.

 

[Knarfks]

CPR is simple to learn, especially with new guidelines. I believe every state now has legal protection for people attempting CPR via good samaritan laws and the basic principle that you can't hurt a dead person.

The crappy part is if you are in the wilderness away from medical facilities and have a heart attack you are probably screwed anyway. I just finished a wilderness first responder certification a month ago, there are very few options.

 

[Geek13]

How much do they cost, anyway?

Quick search $1200-$1700

 

[MrFixIt]

As others have stated, the need for AED's is prohibited by the cost of them.
The parks dept I work for have them stationed at strategic locations, generally located near the sports fields.
I also agree that everyone should take and maintain CPR and basic 1st aid certifications.

 

[rshrevo]

Bender to answer your question it was during Thursday night leagues at Henderson Lake. they were saying he was only 23. we had a donation bucket out at league at Spring lake on Sunday and all league money was going to the family as well. We had two aces on Sunday as well not sure if either of them donated that money to the family or not. I think one of them was donating the money. We talked about that before league about having one. They were doing CPR for 30 minutes. it would have been a nice piece of equipment to have. i see the boxes in the store i work at not sure if they are hooked up to an electric outlet or not to keep them charged.