Cardiac Arrest

Schools in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties are adding heart defibrillators to their arsenal of equipment to keep students and staff safe. Some school offices and all high schools in Anne Arundel County have recently obtained the devices, which detect irregular heart rhythms of cardiac arrest and deliver an electric shock to restore the correct pattern. And the Baltimore County school board approved last week spending $675,000 to buy and maintain units for all schools and offices and to train staff to use them.

Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collier died early yesterday after he had trouble breathing and was stricken in his home, his father said. He was 28. General manager Billy Knight said the cause of death was not immediately clear for the 7-foot, 260-pound player. He said Collier had "no issues" in a preseason physical given to all players. Jeff Collier told the Associated Press that his son died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital and did not have any diagnosed health problems apart from his knees.

LIGHTNING STRUCK an 11-year-old camper on the Eastern Shore one week ago today and quick action by the camp's staff - and the presence of some useful technology - saved him. The boy, who went into cardiac arrest, was revived by a nurse and another worker who administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation and several shocks from a defibrillator. Maryland doesn't require summer camps to have defibrillators. In fact, they aren't required in most public facilities. But this incident - and many others - raises an obvious question: Should they be?

SYKESVILLE Gas-detecting monitors to be placed in 3 homes Carroll County officials have acceded to the demands of three Sykesville homeowners who want sensitive gas-detecting monitors installed in their residences, which have been plagued by the intermittent smell of sewer gas. The devices, which can register minute amounts of noxious gas, will be installed as soon as the end of next week. The county's public works department has leased five monitors from Arizona Instruments of Tempe, Ariz.

A 95-year-old great-grandmother was reported in critical condition late last night at St. Agnes HealthCare after suffering a cardiac arrest during a fire that extensively damaged her Southwest Baltimore home, authorities said. Firefighters rescued the unnamed woman from a second-floor room of her burning brick rowhouse in the first block of Bernice Ave. in the Carroll-South Hilton community shortly after 8 p.m. after several other family members had escaped unhurt, authorities said. More than 40 firefighters manning 12 pieces of apparatus brought the fire under control shortly before 9 p.m. Its cause was under investigation.

Seven members of the Anne Arundel police force were honored Wednesday for saving the life of a man who went into cardiac arrest last month at the Western District patrol station in Odenton. "On Valentine's Day, we saved a heart," said Police Chief P. Thomas Shanahan, who awarded certificates of appreciation to the seven, who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and then used an automated external defibrillator, known as an AED, to resuscitate county worker Gary Glennon. The honorees were: Capt.

Nearly a year after Cornell defenseman George Boiardi died after stepping in front of a shot, getting struck in the chest and going into cardiac arrest, the NCAA is still grappling with proactive ways to prevent a repeat of such a tragedy. The NCAA men's lacrosse rules committee has considered rules changes, such as forbidding any player but a goalkeeper to step into the cage. It has considered requiring all players to wear chest protectors and consulted with manufacturers about the feasibility of such an equipment addition.

Partly on a whim, James W. Baum spent $2,000 apiece on three defibrillators - one for each of his homes - thinking he would someday need one to revive an elderly neighbor suffering from a cardiac arrest. Little did he know the device would save his own life. "I would be dead" without it, said the 65-year-old from Lodi, Calif., who owns several mobile-home parks and grows grapes for a winery. "Twenty-five of my friends have bought them. I really believe in them." With stories like Baum's making converts, the Food and Drug Administration approved last month the over-the-counter sale of automated external defibrillators, or AEDs - which until now have been available to consumers only with a doctor's prescription.

A volunteer firefighter from Middle River died Monday after going into cardiac arrest while on an emergency call, making her the first female firefighter in Baltimore County to die in the line of duty, officials said yesterday. Connie C. Bornman, 57, died shortly after she responded to a call to a home in the 1100 block of Old Eastern Ave. in Essex. She was giving medical care to a patient who was having chest pains when she began feeling ill. As the emergency workers prepared to transport the Old Eastern Avenue patient, Bornman went into full cardiac arrest, said Mark G. Falkenhan, chief of the Middle River Volunteer Ambulance Rescue Company.