Third Annual ASHI Conference Brings World’s Top AED Manufacturers Together - Highly Competitive Industry Panel Agrees on the Benefits of Universal AED Access
The American Safety and Health Institute (ASHI) held its third annual member conference in St. Petersburg on February 16 – 18. This year’s conference was the biggest to date and it marked a number of firsts for the health and safety education industry. Most notably was a panel discussion on AEDs and the role they play in public health and safety. This panel consisted of representatives from the world’s five top AED manufacturers.
Holiday, FL (PRWEB) March 4, 2005 -– The American Safety and Health Institute
(ASHI) held its third annual member conference in St. Petersburg on February 16
– 18. This year’s conference was the biggest to date and it marked a number of
firsts for the health and safety education industry. Most notably was a panel
discussion on AEDs and the role they play in public health and safety. This
panel consisted of representatives from the world’s five top AED manufacturers.
Sitting at the same table and reaching a consensus on a variety of
issues were representatives from Cardiac Science, Medtronic, Philips,
Welch-Allen and Zoll. Ground rules for the panel, which was moderated by ASHI
chief Ralph Shenefelt, were simple; no product or company comparisons, questions
were to be addressed in an AED brand neutral fashion and there were to be
scientific debates. Using those ground rules, the panel started by discussing
the role of education in the deployment of AEDs. There was an overwhelming
consensus that one of the most important, if not the most important, aspect of
an AED deployment was education. Whether deploying AEDs in a PAD environment or
in a corporate setting, the entire panel agreed that AED training was of
paramount importance. Discussion progressed further to the role of AEDs in
general as tool in support of public health and safety policy. Again, the entire
group agreed that the importance of AEDs is understated and that it is a very
positive sign that AEDs are becoming more visible and widely accepted. During
this discussion a question was posed from the audience relating to the merits of
having "an AED" available in case of an emergency, regardless of brand. The
panelists were unanimous, should they or a loved one experience sudden cardiac
arrest they would prefer to have an AED, regardless of brand, available versus
no AED at all.
To summarize the panel discussion, it was jovial,
good-natured and involved some spirited ribbing between panelists. The points on
which everyone agreed were that regardless of brand or technology, any AED is
better than no AED and a trained responder is better than a non-trained
responder. It was great that ASHI was able to bring together the leaders in the
AED industry and it shows that the neutrality of ASHI leads to consensus on
important topics even between highly competitive organizations.
The
American Safety and Health Institute (ASHI) is a non-profit association of
professional safety and health educators providing nationally recognized
training programs through more than 5,000 approved Training Centers around the
world. ASHI is headquartered in Holiday, Florida. ASHI was formally established
as a partnering association of safety and health instructors in the state of
Florida in 1996 to continually improve safety and health education by promoting
high standards for members, principals of sound research for curriculum
development and the professional development of safety and health instructors
worldwide. Learn more about ASHI at http://www.ashinstitute.org
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb214788.htm