(1)  Approximately three hundred twenty-five thousand (325,000) Americans suffer sudden cardiac arrest (“SCA”) each year and more than ninety-five percent (95%) of them die before reaching the hospital;

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-6.5-1

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6

(2)  In the population of Rhode Island, an estimated one thousand (1,000) residents will die of cardiac arrest every year;

(3)  Facilities that host large numbers of visitors are more likely to experience an event that requires an automated external defibrillator (“AED”);

(4)  If defibrillation is performed within five (5) to seven (7) minutes, chances of survival are increased by forty-nine percent (49%). Every minute that goes by without defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by seven percent (7%) to ten percent (10%);

(5)  Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are extremely accurate computerized devices that can be operated by the average person; and

(6)  Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) can be acquired through grants from various organizations or through government agencies.

History of Section.
P.L. 2017, ch. 388, § 1; P.L. 2017, ch. 433, § 1.