Health and Safety at Sant’Anna School: the Rotary Club Pisa and ConAlbe Onlus donate two Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) at key locations in Percro and Plant Labs
Defibrillation is a recognized means of terminating potentially fatal arrhythmias during a cardiac arrest. Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are designed for use by non-medically trained people. An improvement of survival rate showed that 25% is obtained among children and adolescents, and therefore Sant’Anna School oversees the defibrillator program on its campus. Two additional AEDs are today included in Sant’Anna Percro Lab. (Communication, Information and Perception Technologies) and Plant Lab. in the Ghezzano- San Giuliano Terme campus.
The Rotary Club Pisa and ConAlbe Onlus have donated two life-saving portable devices that can save the lives of students or staff experiencing sudden cardiac arrest by delivering a specialized shock in order to restore a normal pumping action. Recent studies showed that 64 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims in schools and universities equipped with AEDs survived to hospital discharge.
The Rotary Foundation over the past 100 years has spent billions on life-changing, sustainable projects. The Rotary Club Pisa funds specific charitable projects each year. Antonio Latella, member of Rotary Club Pisa, participated in club service projects that benefit our own community and volunteered his time to help prevent people from experiencing physical and health problems.
The ConAlbe Onlus association, in memory of basketball player Alberto Contini, is raising awareness about sudden cardiac arrest in young people. Making the life-saving defibrillators accessible and available is one step institutions can take to prevent sudden cardiac death.
Professor Pierdomenico Perata, rector of Sant’Anna School and PlantLab coordinator; Professor Massimo Bergamasco, director of the TeCIP Institute for Communication, Information and Perception Technologies and founder of Percro Lab.; Professor Michele Emdin and Professor Claudio Passino, cardiologists at Sant’Anna School, attended the presentation ceremony together with Gianluca de Felice and Giuseppe Meucci (president and deputy president of Rotary Club Pisa), and Michele Contini, president of ConAlbe Onlus association.
“Sudden cardiac arrest is a rare condition resulting from undetected cardiac abnormalities in athletes and non-athletes, usually precipitated by physical stress. In people aged between 35 and 65, about 75 percent of all sudden cardiac arrests happen at home, and about 25 percent happen during physical activity, such as running, cycling or playing sports. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is not a substitute for defibrillation but it helps maintain vital blood flow to the heart and brain until defibrillation can be administered. The Automated External Defibrillators automatically analyze the heart rhythm and only allow an electric shock when necessary. Having the devices appropriately located in a key location improves the survivability of people experiencing a cardiac crisis” – said Michele Emdin and Claudio Passino.
