In New York the EMS time is about 12 minutes, due to traffic delays and the logistics of getting to victims in high-rise buildings.

The surgeons and firefighters who worked on me all say the key item in surviving a Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the availability of a defibrillator within 2 or 3 minutes.

It doesn’t matter whether or not EMTs do a few minutes’ CPR before defibrillation of cardiac-arrest patients, researchers conclude.

“Without that machine, I was gone. I was finished. It was over.”

Public-access defibrillation with AEDs is being implemented in many countries with considerable financial implications.

In large cities traffic and access to building complexes are serious obstacles to SCA rescue vehicles. On-site AEDs and elevators are a lasting and obvious solution.