In big cities, sports arenas are among the top five places where sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) occurs-but what about towns that don’t have major league stadiums? If little league or the varsity squad is the only game in town, that’s where the people will go, and that’s where SCA will happen.

SCA is one of the most common causes of death in the US, claiming about 325,000 lives each year. Until relatively recently, treatment for SCA-an electrical shock known as defibrillation-was usually administered either in a hospital or by emergency medical service (EMS) personnel. Innovative communities are looking for ways to improve access to defibrillation. They are equipping firefighters, police-and now high school coaches and athletic trainers-with automated external defibrillators (AEDs), allowing them to provide critical treatment before EMS arrives. The leading seller in the field is the LIFEPAK® 500 AED, manufactured by Medtronic Physio-Control of Redmond, Wash.

Unlike the models of defibrillators intended for use by paramedics, nurses and doctors, AEDs do not require extensive medical knowledge to understand or operate. The expertise needed to analyze the heart’s electrical function is programmed into the device, enabling trained professionals to respond to cardiac emergencies. For more information about Medtronic Physio-Control, visit the company’s website at http://www.physiocontrol.com.

36.4% of high school students
smoked cigarettes during the past month, while 16.7% smoked cigarettes
on 20 or more days during the past month, and 9.3% used smokeless
tobacco.

Only 29.3% of high school students
ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables during the
past day. 4.5% took laxatives or vomited to lose weight during
the past month. 4.9% had taken diet pills to lose weight during
the past month.

63.8% of high school students
did vigorous physical activity three or more days during the
past week. 20.4% did moderate physical activity five or more
days during the past week. 48.8% were enrolled in physical education
class. 27.4% attended physical education class daily.
–Center for Disease Control, based on a survey by the 1997 Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance Systems survey.