From the Office of the Interim Vice President

Welcome to my first Blog!

As I’ve indicated, this will be a major conduit for sharing information about the campus and is meant to give you more insight into decisions that affect the campus. We have put up Student Feedback Boxes in all the buildings on campus. Today, we will dig into some feedback left by a student about our AEDs. In case you were like me and generally knew what an AED was, but not exactly what the acronym means, here you go: Automated External Defibrillator. I knew what the “D” stood for and essentially it is a device that can be used to deliver an electric shock through the chest to the heart. The electric shock is designed to stop an irregular heartbeat following a cardiac arrest. AEDs make it possible for regular people like me (I’m a doctor, but not the useful kind…) to respond to a medical emergency.

A student very astutely provided feedback that we do not have signs above the AED boxes, that exist in all of our buildings and on every floor in some buildings, that indicate where these boxes are. In some cases, the AED boxes are down the restroom hallways like in Tykeson Hall making them not as obvious to locate in case of an emergency.

In direct response to this feedback, we will be installing signs near all of our AED locations by the end of the winter term. Thanks to Nick Conroy who suggested this, and to our facilities team that is taking the initiative to complete the work. I look forward to more feedback in the coming days. Future Blogs will address two other areas of feedback: medical access and supports and parking (of course, parking!) STAY TUNED.

“Today, partly because of their invention, hundreds and perhaps thousands of lives are saved annually by ordinary people aboard airplanes, in homes and at other places outside hospitals. These automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which guide even a first-time user through the procedure step by step, are helping close a critical gap in speedy delivery of emergency medical services”.

USA Today

“Each minute that defibrillation is delayed reduces the chance of surviving cardiac arrest by 10 percent”.

American Red Cross