Lawmakers Consider Requiring Defibrillators at Health Clubs in Connecticut

Health clubs and athletic facilities in Connecticut would be required to provide and maintain automatic external defibrillators if legislation now being considered at the State Capitol is approved this year.

Requirements vary from state to state; the Office of Legislative Research (OLR) reported in December 2020 that only 13 states had laws in place.  The Connecticut proposal, introduced by Sen. Will Haskell and Rep. Aimee Berger-Girvalo, comes at the urging of a constituent, whose husband died after suffering an attack at a health club that did not have an automated external defibrillator (AED) on-site.

The most comprehensive AED statutes exist in New York, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and California, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. Indiana, for example, requires health clubs with 50 or more members to have at least one AED on-site and have at least one employee who has been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillator present during all staffed hours.

States including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey have laws requiring health clubs to have an AED on-site.  In Massachusetts, for more than a decade, all health clubs have been required to maintain at least one AED on their premises. The law also requires that at least one employee or volunteer must be trained in AED use, and be present at the gym during business hours, having competed a course that meets or exceeds the standards of the American Red Cross or American Heart Association, according to OLR. 

The legislature’s Public Health Committee, which has jurisdiction over the proposal, has held four public hearings, all virtual, on February 1, 8, 10 and 16.  The AED bill, Senate Bill 110, has yet to be included.  The most recent hearing, last week, was a 24-hour marathon, on the issue of nonmedical exemptions from immunizations, which has drawn considerable interest and controversy.  There has not been any indication as to when a hearing on the AED proposal will be scheduled. 

An AED is a device that delivers a defibrillation shock to a person in Cardiac Arrest in order to restart their heart into a normal rhythm.  It has been reported that annually, over 350,000 people die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) in the United States. Officials indicate that SCA is the leading cause of death of adults over the age of 40, and the leading cause of death of student athletes.  

The American Red Cross reports that the average response time for first responders once 911 is called is 8-12 minutes, and for each minute defibrillation is delayed, the odds of survival are reduced by approximately 10%.  Passage of the bill “is going to save lives and it is something that must pass the Public Health Committee this year,” Haskell told the Ridgefield Press this month. 

The bill has gained 11 co-sponsors thus far, including two physicians who are members of the legislature, Sen. Saud Anwar and Rep. William Petit.

According to the Office of Legislative Research, the Connecticut legislature considered instituting a requirement for AED’s in health clubs in 2005, held public hearings, but took no action. Similar legislation was introduced in at least 2009, 2010 and 2011. AEDs are also required in schools (as of 2010), institutions of higher education (as of 2013), and public golf courses in the state.