Sudden cardiac arrest: the facts may shock you

Each year, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)—an abrupt loss of heart function caused by a rapid disturbance in the heart’s natural rhythm—claims the lives of more than 5,768 Iowans, or approximately 16 lives per day.
SCA can happen to anyone, but some people are at greater risk—including heart attack survivors, people who have heart failure, those who have survived a past episode of SCA or have a family history of SCA and people with a low ejection fraction (a measurement of the heart’s pumping ability).
As part of a yearlong campaign to increase awareness and improve access to live-saving therapy, Mercy Heart Hospital, Iowa Heart Center and WHO-TV 13 plan to educate central Iowans about SCA and how it can be prevented through education, free screenings and the donation of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) to qualifying local-area businesses and organizations.
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