I was asked to provide locations for 24-7 accessible AEDs that are in the community, below are a number of these locations as well as some of the additional units that exist in our town (if I missed any please feel free to chime in).  911 also has a record of all these AEDs, so when a call is placed they know the closest available AED.

Lyme Inn – 24×7 access inside main door

Dowds’ Country Inn – 24×7 access inside main door 

Ledyard Bank – 24×7 access

Lyme Police office main entrance – 24×7 access

Post Pond Recreational Area Portable device – seasonal beach 24×7 access

Lyme Town hall meeting room

Lyme PD Car 1 & PD Car 2

Lyme Fire station meeting room

Lyme Engine 1, Engine 2, Tanker and Rescue

Converse Free Library wall-mounted behind Librarian’s desk

Mascoma Savings Bank main lobby

Lyme Congregational Church Church kitchen by outside door

Skiway Rental Shop

Colby Insurance Group wall-mounted inside the entrance door

Lyme School

Crossroads Academy

A number of the AED’s on town property, as well as an additional 7 AEDs that live with Fire & EMS responders, were purchased or upgraded/replaced through a donation that came in 2021.  This donation will help improve our response time for cardiac events in the community for many years to come.  I personally carry one of these devices at all times, and a number of our Fire/EMS providers in town do as well.  A number of times these devices have been used when we have responded directly from our homes, work or are just in the car when a call comes in.  It’s one way we are working to have AED’s on wheels in the community, as they live with first responders in most corners of the community to improve the time between 911 notification and AED arrival to the patient.  Lyme PD is also dispatched with Fire & EMS to reduce the time between call and AED arrival, this has proved to be very effective in our community and has resulted in good outcomes.

There are also a number of individual businesses and/or homeowners who have AED’s on premise throughout the community.

Please remember that early notification to emergency services and starting compressions are critical to the outcome of the patients.  It is far better to call 911 and work with available people on providing good quality chest compressions than to limit the number of people providing chest compressions and drive to a 24×7 location to get an AED.

I was also asked which AED’s Lyme Fire & EMS are primarily using, we currently and for the foreseeable future are using Zoll AED’s(can be purchased for under $1700) due to their direct interface(same pads/cables) with our Zoll X Series Advanced that was most recently replaced in early 2021.  The Zoll X series advanced costs almost $35,000 and is on a replacement schedule every 10 years, the town of Lyme Fire & EMS have been extremely fortunate to have the Lyme Foundation step up significantly on the last two replacement schedules of this live saving tool that is used for a number of things beyond just defibrillation.  It is used on most calls that Lyme EMS responds to, it provides Blood Pressure readings, Respirations, Heart rate and in some cases provides for the availability of pre-hospital 4 or 12 lead analysis of potential cardiac issues.  With this information we are able to provide early notification to the hospital of a patient with a blockage(stemi), which in turn expedites treatment as they arrive at the hospital.  This has saved lives in our community, and improved outcomes since its arrival in early 2021.

If anyone would like to donate to this initiative, the town voted to support the creation of a fund at the last town meeting.  This fund was created to directly support the replacement of pads, supplies and machines as needed and is set aside outside the general funds in town.  If you have any questions please reach out.

Thank you,

Aaron Rich

Lyme Fire Chief