Evening Ladies and Gents,
The thread Doug started and Scafool's comment has sent me wondering down an ADD side road.
Many of you have heard I will be re-entering the wireless infrastructure industry soon (if someone will tell which cardinal point on the compass to follow).
Said line of work often leads me to be well and truly out in the boonies far from EMS help. This line of work might not be as dangerous as Alaskan crab fishing, but I have seen more than my share of grievous injuries, and sadly, several fatalities.
Considering the afore mentioned risks, my FAK is generally well stocked and I always wish I had more training.
I wish for (and will be getting) AED training out of my own pocket. Having looked at the price of a new AED I see a small problem, my budget. Next as I was shopping, I found refurbished AEDs. Now this brings to mind refurbished parachutes, not something I would want normally. (Unless the aircraft was NOT functioning as advertised and that was all that was available.)
Now for the questions:
1) Does anyone have experience with refurb AED's?
2) Any specific manufacturer better than the rest?
3) Is a vehicle mounted/charged (12VDC) option available?
4) Is a refurb AED like the refurb parachute, better than nothing?
5) If purchased new, what is the life cycle on something like this?
6) How often / how expensive is re-calibration?
7) How long is training?
8) What legal mess am I opening up?
9) Anything I missed?
Keep in mind, I will be purchasing this on my own dime if I do.
I forgot to mention a few things:
A) These job sites are often very remote. Sometimes to the point that the materials are brought in by helicopter.
B) I know the AED is not a one stop fix-it, but I was hoping to buy time if appropriate for EMS (Ground or Air) to get there.
C) Since I am a consultant, it will be my money.
To give an idea of some of the remoteness of these sites, remember the last time you were 60 miles or more from civilization on a highway and the phone worked? That is the norm for this kind of work.
One of the things I do upon getting a new job site is create an emergency list with all the local contact numbers, good directions from the 2 closest Fire/EMS locations responsible for the area to the job, and directions from the job to the two nearest medical facilities. I also include GPS coordinates to the site, and we create a cleared helicopter LZ just in case. I also go visit the two closest FD/EMS stations and the local PD and distribute the directions/GPS info. These tower sites have address numbers, but that generally has nothing to do with finding them.
I will get the blank file off my PC laptop and share it soon. Someone might have something I missed, or it might help others who work remotely.
Previous Topic
Index
