North Texas

Group Works To Locate, Document All North Texas AEDs

There is a push across North Texas to document every automated external defibrillator and local emergency responders need your help.

The North Texas PIO Group is conducting an AED Scavenger Hunt through Feb. 28.

“It is a collection of all the public information officers from police, fire, hospital, EMS, public safety, FBI, Secret Service [and] all of those folks who have public information officers we do this together,” MedStar spokesman Matt Zavadsky said. “The fun thing about this hunt is that we are doing it all through social media.”

Participants are asked to located the AED, take a picture and post the building address, the location in the building and if the device appears ready for use.

• Facebook: NTXAED
• Twitter: @NTXAED and #NTXAED
• Instagram: NTXAED
• Team registration: Scavenger Hunt

“A lot of people have AEDS in their buildings and other parts of the community, but sometimes they forget to let the local responders know that those AEDs are there.,” Zavadsky said. “This is going to allow us to have a much more robust database of where AEDs are located in the community.”

Zavadsky said the scavenger hunt has already started paying off.

“Every one that has been sent to us so far appears to have not been documented already,” he said. “So, so far the program has been exceptionally valuable.”

Zavadsky explained there are a number of reasons some AEDs have not been documented.

“People don’t know they are supposed to register with their local emergency serve authority,” he said. “Some people know, but they forget.”

The idea is for this database to be used across North Texas by 911 dispatchers when someone calls with a cardiac emergency.

“The dispatcher can say, ‘Hey, there is a defibrillator in the break room and one in the lobby. Go get one and bring it to the patient,’” Zavadsky explained.

The hunters are also able to find any AEDs that are not working properly.

“If the person who finds the AED is able to report that the pads are expired or the battery is low, we can contact the business owner or the building owner and let them know,” Zavadsky said. “[We can say] ‘Hey, in case you didn’t know, the AED on the third floor lobby needs pads and batteries, can you check that for us?”

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