Opelika receives 114 new automated external defibrillators

OPELIKA, Ala. (WTVM) - The City of Opelika recently installed 114 new automated external defibrillators or AEDs.

Those machines are used to monitor someone’s heart rate when they have a heart attack and determines whether they need an electrical shock.

Those units were installed throughout the city in places like hiking trails and city parks. With police typically arriving on scene before emergency medical services, AEDs were also installed in patrol cars.

“By taking and buying 40 of them and putting them in police cars, we ensure that whoever gets there first in the City of Opelika, has got an AED with them and the ability to defibrillate,” said Chief Shane Boyd of the Opelika Fire Department.

Chief Boyd says people also have a 70-percent chance of surviving a heart attack if AEDs are used while waiting on an ambulance. Police officers and city employees will also get training on how to use them properly.