Is Your Church Prepared to Save Someone’s Life?

aedChurches are in the saving business!  Of course, I am speaking about saving people’s souls through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But what about saving someone’s physical life?  We were faced with that task on a Wednesday night at 7 Oaks Church of Christ recently. Our normal Bible study portion had concluded and we were moving chairs and setting up tables for our annual ladies’ night on Friday.  A hundred or so brethren were working doing various tasks while kids played, when a member comes running to me telling me that a sister had passed out.

I immediately went to the hallway and observed our youth minister already calling 911.  He was near by an a teen girl had immediately grabbed him.  I recognized immediately that she was serious, so I quickly called on one of our elders who knows CPR well to come.  He began assessing the situation and started CPR.  I could not get a pulse on her.  By this time word was spreading quickly.  A few other members who know CPR were assisting as well.  They saw the need for our AED machine.  We quickly retrieved it and the first responders began using the machine.  The AED machine was a phenomenal tool to use.  It is very simple to administer and once in place the computer assess the person’s breathing and heart rate and gives instruction.  The AED machine administered two   electric shocks.  It instructed the men as they gave CPR.

While this was going on, other brethren had got all of the children in one area, especially helping with the ladies’ grandchildren who were at services.  Her husband had been found from another location in the building and he was assisting in the CPR. One of our deacons lead a group in prayer in the auditorium.  The ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital.  Later that evening in the emergency room, the doctor came to give the family a report.  He said she had suffered a heart attack.  Her actual condition involved her heart going into a v-fib, an irregular heartbeat of the lower part of the heart which causes blood not to be pumped.  He said the actions of the first responders, and specifically the use of the AED machine, saved her life.  Unfortunately, she suffered another serious heart attack 24 hours later in the ICU unit and once again required extensive CPR and electric shocks.  She is currently in a medically induced coma in ICU trying to assess her functions and allow her body to heal.

Our church family has been greatly saddened by this situation and is fervently praying and ministering to this family.  But we are also proud and thankful for the actions taken on Wednesday night by the first responders.  We are also grateful that we invested around $1000 to purchase an AED machine.  We bought one a couple of years back.  We have two elders who are involved in CPR classes and encouraged the purchase understanding the value of such a machine.

While overall, our church reacted well to this emergency, we still learned some areas we need to improve.  Here are two simple things your church should have in place, that many congregations do not.

  • An accessible AED machine.  I know it seems like a lot of money for something you might not use, but these machines are wonderful and are needed in public places such as a church building.  Buy a case as well and put it in a visible location.  We also purchased the infant’s pads so it can be used on an infant.

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  • Have some members trained in CPR.  Chances are your congregation has some of these people already.  The leadership needs to know who they are and they need to be willing and able to serve.  Consider offering a class at your congregation to train volunteers and have an organized system in place.

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