Life After Death: Bereaved Family Turn Phuket Lifesavers

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Life after death: Bereaved family turn Phuket lifesavers

Noah Yelizarov died aged 19 in Phuket as a result of electric shock.

FROM LEFT: Noah's father Michael, mother Lori and brother Jonathan flew from Canada to present AEDs to Phuket hospitals and rescue foundations.

PHUKET: -- The family of a young Canadian man who died in a freak accident in Patong six years ago have donated six Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) to Phuket hospitals and rescue foundations.

Noah Yelizarov, 19, died as a result of electrical shock on October 9, 2004. He was in Phuket on holiday with three friends.

Standing knee-deep in flood water alongside a road in Patong, he was electrocuted when exposed wires on an electric pole sent a deadly charge through the pool.

Noah died on the way to the hospital.

His death could have been prevented had a defibrillation been administered.

In an effort to prevent similar tragedies on Phuket, the Yelizarov family raised the 25,000 Canadian dollars (794,000 baht) needed to buy the six AEDs for the island’s medical services.

The family presented the AEDs and a host of other medical equipment to Vice Governor Tri Augkaradacha on March 19 at Patong Hospital.

Michael Yelizarov, Noah’s father, said he was grateful for the warmth the Thai people had shown his family on their donation trip.

The AEDs would ensure there would be fewer parents suffering the loss of a child, he added.

Holding one of the AEDs Mr Yelizarov said the device was capable of 150 electrical charges.“ That means 150 people could be saved with just this one machine,” he said.

Noah’s mother, Lori, said electrical wiring in Thailand is substandard.

“I would like people to be aware that if we can help change things, this can be a safer place,” she said.

The Yelizarov family donated one AED each to Vachira Phuket Hospital, Thalang Hospital, the Kusoldharm Foundation, the Phuket Rescue Foundation and two to Patong Hospital.

All of the donated AEDs will be used in mobile emergency medical units.

Also present at the ceremony were five officers from Firefighters Without Borders, there to train 150 local medical personnel how to use the equipment.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-03-30

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[NBT TV Phuket]

item-6- on VDO at http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...14&tb=N1314 or

A Canadian family donated automatic external defibrillators for hospitals in Phuket as part of EMS work for accident victims.

The Yelizarov family and friends from Canada recently donated 6 automatic external defibrillators worth over 600,000 baht to local public hospitals’ emergency medical service units in Phuket. The handover ceremony took place at Patong Hospital with Dr. Wiwat Sritamanot from the provincial public health office and Patong Hospital Director Dr. Pumin Silaphan receiving the machines. The equipment is distributed to the government Wachira Hospital, Thalang and Patong Hospitals, plus Kusoldham and Ruam Jai Ku Pai charity foundations for the emergency medical services and rescue. The Canadian family lost their beloved son ‘Noah’ due to an electrical shock at Patong six years ago. He was sent to Patong Hospital which reportedly had followed standard procedure to revive Noah’s life, but it was too late. The family then got together with friends to raise funds and purchase the equipment and donated it to local EMS service units. They said they hope that the machine would help save hundreds or thousands of lives for people who have accidents just like what happened to their beloved son. The donors also arranged their teams of firefighters to train local staff on the usage of the equipment during March 19-24. **voice**

weekly Andaman News NBT TV (VHF dial) at 8.30am & repeated on satellite C Band (usually net black) frequency 4134 Mhz at symbolate 2530 at 1pm & repeats on Phuket Cable TV channel 1 at 3.30pm, 7pm, 1.30am & 6.30am, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces in Phuket, Friday 26th March 2010 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/ & www.YouTube.com/AndamanNews

[ScubaBuddha]

It's a nice gesture and hopefully they will do some good. AED's are fantastic tools. There is no other product in history that has increased survivability of cardiac arrest victims like an AED.

However, and I don't mean to put a damper on this positive story, but there is a problem with AED's in Thailand.

They are illegal for anyone to use except a licensed doctor, which is silly because AED's are designed to be used by the lay rescuer with little or no medical knowledge. The AED takes all the medical decision making away, and allows a lay person bystander the opportunity to help a victim of sudden cardiac arrest. You literally plug in and slap on the pads, turn it on and it tells you what to do. They are very simple devices to use. Studies show that even a 6th grader can use one. It won't let you shock someone unless it has detected a shock-able rhythm.

Because AED's have essentially been outlawed in Thailand, at least as they are intended to be used, I don't see where these AED's are going to fit in here because they aren't designed to be used by professionals in hospitals or carried on ambulances. The AED is limited in that it can only shock for ventricular fibrillation (quivering heart) and tachycardia (fast beating heart) which, while being the most popular types of cardiac arrest, there are others types which require an electrocardiogram and a manual defibrillator to treat. Hospitals and proper ambulances already have a standard manual external defibrillator (MED) which also has a visual heart monitor (EKG) on it which would let an EMT/Paramedic/doctor know what heart rhythm a patient has and then adjust the electrical charge to the prescribed level. If an MED is available, using an AED in a hospital or trained ambulance setting would be criminal withholding of adequate care, even in Thailand. I have taken a few peeks at the kit inside proper ambulances in Thailand and they do indeed already have MED's with EKG's. I'm not talking about the meat wagon/body snatchers. Those guys have no kit and an AED would be suitable for them if their wasn't a law barring them from using it.

There is another issue which further complicates the proper implementation, training and use of AED's in Thailand. They are designed to be placed in the field and used by the lay responder before trained medical staff can reach the patient, but as many of us know, there is no "Good Samaritan" law in Thailand making the lay responder open to civil suits by the victim or the victims family. I used to think this was an urban legend until an EMT friend of mine spent a night in a Thai jail after stopping to help at an accident scene which he was not involved in. So all of us that have emergency medical training must sadly look the other way when a Thai needs help. In the states the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act (CASA) protects AED owners and users, even if the user has no training. They are that innocuous.

There is a detailed article on the "Good Samaritan" issue at the online Phuket news source which is not allowed to be mentioned here. Check it out. (Edit: Good Samaritan article seems to have vanished. I emailed the editor to see if that is the case)

Edited March 30, 2010 by ScubaBuddha

[ScubaBuddha]

I'll also ad that this is a good reminder to not step into any water in Thailand unless you can be certain it isn't electrified. There have been lots of stories of accidental electrocution in swimming pools or when rain accumulates.

[ScubaBuddha]

Here is the link to the good samaritan story. My bad, it was an article in the Phuket Post, not the other Phuket online news source which we cannot mention.

http://phuket-post.com/article/phuket-loca...-to-walk-on-by/