File #: Res 1538-2008    Version: * Name: Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North commuter rail road and the New York City Transit Authority, to make automated external defibrillators available on every train.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Health
On agenda: 7/23/2008
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to pass A4459-A/ S5351-A requiring the Metropolitan Transit Authority, including the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North commuter rail road and the New York City Transit Authority, to make automated external defibrillators available on every train.
Sponsors: Alan J. Gerson, Gale A. Brewer, Lewis A. Fidler, Helen D. Foster, Vincent J. Gentile, Letitia James, Michael C. Nelson, Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., James Sanders, Jr., Kendall Stewart
Council Member Sponsors: 10

Res. No. 1538

 

Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to pass A4459-A/ S5351-A requiring the Metropolitan Transit Authority, including the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North commuter rail road and the New York City Transit Authority, to make automated external defibrillators available on every train.

 

By Council Members Gerson, Brewer, Fidler, Foster, Gentile, James, Nelson, Recchia Jr., Sanders Jr. and Stewart

 

                     Whereas, Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death in the United States accounting for approximately 250,000 deaths each year; and

                     Whereas, SCA is an abrupt loss of heart function which generally results from ventricular fibrillation, a rapid and unsynchronized heart rhythm originating in the heart’s lower pumping chambers; and

                     Whereas, Brain death and permanent death begins to occur in four to six minutes after someone experiences SCA; and

                     Whereas, It is estimated that more than 95 percent of SCA victims die before reaching the hospital; and

Whereas, SCA can be reversed if it is treated immediately by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and an electric shock to the heart within seven to ten minutes; and

                     Whereas, An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a lightweight, portable device that scans the patient and if warranted delivers an electric shock through the chest to the heart, which can stop an irregular rhythm and allow a normal rhythm to continue in a heart during SCA; and

                     Whereas, If an AED is used within one minute of a SCA the individual’s chance of survival increases by 90 percent; and

Whereas, During a cardiac episode, a victim’s survival rate diminishes by seven to ten percent for each minute without treatment, and yet where defibrillation is provided within five to seven minutes the survival rate from cardiac arrest can reach 49 percent; and

                     Whereas, The American Red Cross asserts that if both CPR and AED usage were made more widely available, the survival rate from SCA would increase to 20 percent, saving approximately 40,000 lives each year; and

                     Whereas, Chicago was the first city in the United States to mandate AEDs in 1999 and defibrillators placed in Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports aided 14 victims who experienced cardiac issues, resulting in 64 percent of those individuals being revived and experiencing no brain damage; and

                     Whereas, All fifty states have defibrillator laws which require defibrillators to be placed in specific locations including but not limited to schools, day care centers, health clubs, places of public assembly, and many of these laws also encourage widespread training and maintenance of these devices; and

                     Whereas, It is crucial to deploy defibrillators in areas that are widely populated or trafficked such as within public transportation systems; and

                     Whereas, Currently the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) deploys AEDs within their transit network, in stations, offices and vans; and

                     Whereas, In 2004 an employee of the MBTA saved a passenger’s life, who collapsed on the subway platform, by using an AED that was placed within the station; and

                     Whereas, The New York State Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), the State’s major public transportation network, serves more than 8.5 million people per day according to the MTA webpage; and 

                     Whereas, It is incumbent upon the Metropolitan Transit Authority to take all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their riders and through rapid deployment of defibrillators, lives can be saved in events of SCA; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass A4459-A/ S5351-A requiring the Metropolitan Transit Authority, including the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North commuter rail road and the New York City Transit Authority, to make automated external defibrillators available on every train.

 

JM

LS# 5832

July 16, 2008