While working on Meek High School’s baseball field, in Arley, Alabama...
...in 2006, Arley Police Chief Aaron Brown suddenly felt sick. “I thought the hot April weather was causing a heat stroke because I felt weak and achy,” Brown explains. “Then I experienced sharp pain in my left arm. I called 911, and then felt pain in my right arm, my back and chest.”
Bystanders connected Brown, 53, to the high school’s automated external defibrillator (AED) while emergency crews were en route.
After assessing Brown’s heart rhythm, the AED did not recommend a shock, but provided peace-of-mind to the ex-paramedic. “I’ve seen the terrible results of heart attacks during the 7 years I worked as a paramedic,” Brown says. “The AED made me feel safe because I knew that the machine would shock my heart back into a rhythm if it stopped beating.”
Ralph Williams, a retired schoolteacher and member of the county board of education, was on the baseball field with Brown during the incident. Though the unit did not deliver a shock, the LifePak CR Plus defibrillator’s instructions were clear. “Hardly anyone had been around this type of situation before,” Williams says. “When they touched Aaron, the machine instructed them not to touch him. The AED did not shock Aaron, but it did its job and I’m sure it would have shocked him if needed. The unit really impressed me.”
The CR Plus’ performance was so impressive that Williams suggested his church purchase the same model. “After Aaron’s heart attack, the church members knew we needed an AED,” Williams says. “We followed the Meek High School nurse’s advice and purchased the LifePak CR Plus.”
Williams’ church isn’t the only area church prepared for such an emergency, thanks to Aaron Brown and the Arley Police Department. The Arley rescue squad plans to purchase an AED for every church in the area, and, according to Brown, only lacks three or four before all the area churches are equipped.
In Brown’s case, paramedics arrived to the scene within 10 minutes, and an ambulance arrived within 18 minutes. Brown knows that those moments spent waiting for emergency help are critical – often meaning the difference between life and death.
“The closer you are to an AED, the better off you’ll be,” says Brown, who’s been a member of the Arley Police Department since 1990. “I believe every church and school needs one, and Arley is close to reaching that goal.”
Brown has fully recovered from his heart attack. He works and runs two miles daily, as he did at the time of his heart attack.