After reporter helps save life, he explores why more restaurants don't have AEDs

Many of us know someone – whether it's a family member, friend, or neighbor – who has suffered a heart attack.

During cardiac arrest, every second counts. According to the American Heart Association, the chances of survival decrease 7-10% for each minute that passes without immediate CPR or use of a defibrillator.

Earlier this month, I was out to dinner and ended up jumping into action to help save a man who was suffering a medical episode.

The man was reportedly in need of an automated external defibrillator (AED), something the restaurant did not have and is not required to have under Michigan law.

AEDs are the difference between life and death, restoring the heartbeat to someone after a cardiac arrest.

I was at Mike's on the Water in St. Clair Shores on the Fourth of July when the man went into distress.

"All of a sudden behind me and a little bit to my left, I heard this big noise, like boom, and I turned around and a gentleman had fallen face first and was laying with his face down," David Clark said.

Clark was there with a friend and his wife.

"A couple people went to him but they didn't do anything. Really the first person that I saw that was going to do something was you," he said.

I felt for a pulse. It was faint, then it stopped. The man was not breathing.

I began CPR while another Good Samaritan gave mouth-to-mouth.

"You have to take action very promptly," Dr. Aaron Berman, the director of heart and vascular safety at Corewell Health. He said there are certain things you need to do if there is not an AED.

"Number one, you call 911. Before you do CPR, if you're the only person there, call 911. Second, start CPR and hopefully someone else will help you and go find a defibrillator," Berman said.

An ICU nurse took over CPR for me as I went to find an AED, but the business did not have one.

"There really should be more defibrillators out there," Berman said.

I reached out to the Macomb County Health Department and they told me, "At this time the Health Department does not have any regulations specific to AEDs in our food service establishments."

Knapp's City Garage in New Baltimore is just one of few restaurants in Michigan that has an AED and they just received it in march.

"I think it is a great asset for the whole community to be able to use and have it handy and accessible," Eleanor Knapp, the owner of Knapp's Garage, said.

They got the device through a grant from the city and Medstar Ambulance.

"We've had several experiences with some elderly people here, particularly having a seizure, not necessarily a heart attack, but just going through that emotion and calling 911, it makes you want to have every possible tool on hand," Knapp said.

Clark said after what he watched, he wants to brush up on his CPR skills.

"Someone should be able to react, and if you have training, you will react," Clark said.

The day after the incident, Mike's on the Water did go out and purchase an AED so they are prepared if anything like this does happen again. The man who suffered the cardiac event did survive.

HELPFUL RESOURCES:

If you're a Michigan business, click here to learn how you can apply for an AED and CPR grant from Medstar.

If you want to learn CPR and how to use an AED, click here to check out information from the Red Cross.

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