After NBC CT Responds received a complaint that a Canton man’s gym didn’t have an automated external defibrillator; our team made hundreds of calls to gyms to see if fitness centers were following the law. The data we found is telling.
Cardiac arrest doesn’t discriminate.
As we just learned last week, when LeBron James’ 18-year-old son Bronny, a star basketball recruit, collapsed from cardiac arrest at a USC practice.
In January, NFL viewers witnessed the public cardiac arrest of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on the gridiron.
These scares reinforce the importance of knowing CPR and having automated external defibrillators, better known as AEDs, in fitness centers.
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By law, health clubs in our state must have an AED.
But NBC CT Responds has discovered many don’t.
Our team investigated after we received a consumer complaint from Bob Barlow of Canton.
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He reached out to NBC CT Responds when he discovered that his gym, Big Sky in Simsbury, didn’t have an AED.
“They always said had there not been a defibrillator on site he may not have made it,” said Barlow about watching Hamlin’s scary situation.
That incident sparked Barlow’s interest to inquire if his gym had one.
And when he learned it didn’t, he says he asked if it would get one, “And I never got a response again, so that’s why I called you.”
NBC CT Responds made many calls of our own to see if businesses are complying with the law.
Our team was able to get in contact with 202 of the 224 licensed health clubs listed on our state’s website.
Many employees who picked up the phone didn’t know what an AED was.
Per state statute, not only should a fitness center have an AED, but there must be someone always working or volunteering at the facility who is trained to use it.
Based on our phone survey:
159 employees said their health club had AEDs.
12 didn’t know if they had one on their premises.
29 told us their facility didn’t.
2 said no comment.
That’s 21-percent of gyms that we spoke to that either didn’t have an AED, the employee didn’t know if their gym does, or wouldn’t tell us.
That’s two out of every 10 gyms we talked to that are potentially not following the law.
We shared our data with Suzanne Brennan.
“It’s the difference between life and death. I was disappointed,” she said.
Brennan, her husband, and three kids were living in Ridgefield when she got a call no one ever wants to receive.
“I was shocked to learn that this young, vibrant, 50-year-old athlete was gone.”
In 2012, her husband, Ed, a beloved local coach, died suddenly.
“My husband was working out as he often did at a local health club,” she said. “He suffered a sudden cardiac event. There was no AED -- no trained staff.”
Ten years after her husband’s passing, Brennan pushed for Connecticut’s law requiring AEDs to be in gyms.
“Every minute that passes you lose 7 to 10 percent of your survivability,” said Brennan, who now advocates for more businesses to get AEDs.
Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo, who represents Ridgefield, co-wrote the state’s AED in health club’s bill.
“If you’re not motivated by the idea that we should save as many lives as we possibly can when given the opportunity, then at least you’re motivated by whatever the law is,” Berger-Girvalo said.
She too was concerned by the data we gathered.
“When I hear that I think 'okay so, how do we help get these guys up to compliance?' That will be my goal now that you’ve given me this information,” said Berger-Girvalo.
Health clubs need to renew their license through the state every year.
Right now, the only checks and balances to make sure gyms are abiding by the law are initial inspections by the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) when owners are applying for a new license.
And then when consumers report their complaints to DCP.
“I don’t want to be seen as the AED police at all,” said Brennan, but she hopes gyms will get in compliance and gym-goers can step up too to make an impact by inquiring if their gym has an AED.
“For me this has become my message, my direction in remembering my husband and knowing that I could help another family and their children not have to go through what my children did,” she said.
A concern Barlow has.
He and his friends from the gym are questioning whether they should find another place to work out.
None of Big Sky’s five locations around the state have an AED.
When NBC CT Responds reached out, a manager at the local chain told us it’s purchased the devices and hope to get them soon, but she couldn’t tell us when the order was placed.
“I’d like to think that nothing is going to happen to me or [his friends], but you never know. It could,” said Barlow.
AEDs aren’t cheap. They cost more than $1,000 and up, but Brennan asks business owners to consider what’s the price of a life.
She says there are organizations and other ways to get help to buy one.
In response to the data we gathered, DCP says if you are aware of a gym without an AED, file a complaint, so DCP “investigators can follow up and ensure compliance with the law.”
A spokesperson for the department said, "Automatic defibrillators save lives and are especially valuable in situations where consumers engage in cardio activity. The Department is reminding licensed health clubs about this important requirement."
