Automatic External Defibrillators; It’s All About The Marketing

Interesting Article.

http://www.911ready.com/blog/bid/381736/Automatic-External-Defibrillators-It-s-All-About-The-Marketing?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=4849662

Ever notice how many fire extinguishers there are? Ever notice how you know where those fire extinguishers are? Now, where is the closest automatic external defibrillator (“AEDs”) located? See a pattern here?

I suspect the difference is because of marketing. What does a fire extinguisher do? Extinguisher fires, right? Fires are bad, right? Happen all the time, right? We need those fire extinguishers.

Now about those AEDs? What exactly do they do? Peoples’ hearts just stop? Never heard of such a thing. When you “drop dead” don’t you do just that? How can some gizmo restart a heart beat….at church, in the mall, on the playing field, or any public place? Keep your voodoo science to yourself.

It’s all about marketing. If you’re reading this blog post you probably know that Sudden Cardiac Arrest is a significant problem and an AED is the definitive solution when the public is faced with this problem. So why doesn’t the concept of having an AED and/or knowing the location of the closest AED seem important to the public.

Here’s my idea. Our offices are near one of the great research parks in the United States. Thousands of years of higher educated professionals sitting at desks, sedentary, and working long hours with bad food. A set-up for SCA’s. How many there know CPR or have access to an AED? Probably very view.

So here’s the plan. We aren’t talking about AED any more. No, we have relabeled AED’s to “Knowledge Worker Preservations Devices” (“KWPD’s”). AED’s are for the general public, but KWPD, ah, those are reserved for a select few. Think it will work?

It could be worse. Is it possible that we don’t know where either the closest fire extinguisher or AED is located? Not to worry, it’s just survival of the fittest at work.

(Next: Hands-only CPR isn’t CPR at all. It’s the “squash the chest to save the brain” protocol. How do you think that will “sell.”)