Donation to IUPD helps save lives

When the IU Police Department arrived on the scene, Allen Clouthier was a body, nothing more. His heart had stopped. He had no pulse. He was not breathing. \nBut prepared for the worst, the officers revived Clouthier's heart -- and life -- with an Automated External Defibrillator. \nOn Feb. 7, IUPD officers Chris Dutton, Michael Antonelli and Chad Werner answered a call from the IU Physical Plant where Clouthier, an employee at the plant, lay unconscious after suffering a heart attack. \n"When Chad and I arrived, (Clouthier) was lying on the floor, underneath a table and he had a large laceration on his forehead, which hit the corner of table as he fell down," Antonelli said. "He wasn't breathing and he had no heartbeat, so we started administering CPR."\nSeconds later, Dutton arrived at the scene with an AED and began preparations to revive Clouthier's heart.\n"The AED detected that he had no pulse, so it prompted a shock, which revived his heart," Dutton said. "After that we continued on with CPR until the ambulance came and transported him to the hospital."\nClouthier's life was saved. \nAn AED is a portable device that IUPD officers use to revive an individual's heart rate with an electric shock. When in use, an AED coaches the operator through the procedure by providing audible instructions as to whether or not the person needs a shock, how to apply the pads and when to deliver the shock.\nIUPD officers have been equipped with an AED in each squad car since last February when the IU Foundation purchased six AEDs for the department. IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said without the foundation's generosity, IUPD could not have gathered the funding to afford the AEDs, which cost around $2,500 each.\n"We're really fortunate to have (the AEDs) in the department," Minger said, "especially in instances like these where someone's life is in danger."\nIUPD Sgt. David Rhodes said the simplicity in using an AED benefits the officer by eliminating some of the chaos and nervousness that exist during incidents where a person is unconscious.\n"The AEDs walk you through every step of the procedure with easy-to-follow instructions," Rhodes said. "That can help the officer a lot in an instance where the situation may be a little stressful."\nDutton said along with his police training, the easy use of the AED helped him remain calm during the incident. \n"Whenever you show up at a scene where someone isn't breathing or they're unconscious, it's a very tense situation," Dutton said. "But I never really felt rushed. The AED is really easy to use, and it helped us save his life."\nA patient's chances of survival decrease by 7 to 10 percent with each minute that passes without defibrillation, according to the American Heart Association. Rhodes said he doubts Clouthier would have survived if he had gone unattended until the ambulance arrived.\n"(Clouthier) is alive today because we arrived on scene quickly enough, and we had the necessary training and equipment to save him," Rhodes said.\nYet even after saving Clouthier's life, the officers still remain humble about their work.\n"It's obviously good feeling for us," Antonelli said, "but at the same time, helping people is what we're supposed to do. Any other officer in the department who was in the same situation would have acted in the same way"