Taipei City Geotechnical Engineering Office

Hiking safety is being upgraded again! The Geotechnical Engineering Office of Taipei City’s Public Works Department will set up Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) on five popular trails as of May 9th, 2014 and expects to finish the installation before May 12th. It is hoped that, with the easy operation of the lifesaving AED, more precious lives could be saved within the golden rescue time of sudden loss of consciousness or cardiac arrest. In so doing, citizens can feel safer when hiking! 　　

According to Huang Li-Yuan, the Director of the Geotechnical Engineering Office, Taipei City’s hiking trails have been citizens’ popular recreation spots. In order to provide citizens with a safer hiking environment, the Office held many public meetings in neighboring schools and temples and coordinated with them regarding the AED installation locations. Thanks to their strong support, currently AEDs have been installed at five popular trails: “Sanxuan Temple Trail” and “Tea Exhibition Center Trail” in the Wenshan District, the “Beixing Temple Trail” and “Hushan Hiking Trail” in the Xinyi District, and the “Zhongyongshan Hiking Trail” in the Neihu District. As an old saying goes: “better save one life than build a seven-storey pagoda”. It’s our duty to save lives. While we encourage citizens to go hiking, we shall make every effort to build a safe and friendly hiking environment for them too. 　　

As indicated by Chief Xia Xian-Tong of the Industrial and Trail Section, an AED can automatically detect a patient’s heart and pulse beats, and give the heart an electric shock to restore its normal function. It is easy-to-use. When turning it on, you will hear a voice instruction along with illustrations. It is as simple as a “point and shoot camera”; thus, it is also commonly called the “AED for dummies”. Currently, many advanced countries use it for medical emergency, making it one of the indicators showing social advancement. This time, the Geotechnical Engineering Office has set up AEDs at appropriate locations beside the hiking gate of five popular trails where the average number of hikers can reach more than 10,000 during holidays. It is hoped that by further extending such emergency rescue measures to potential accident sites, citizens can rest assured when they go hiking. 　　

Ye Han-Ren, the subsection chief of the Industrial and Trial Section, notes that, according to the statistics released by the Department of Health, heart disease is one of the top 3 causes of death in Taiwan. Related studies also pointed out that, in some cases, if an electric shock could be delivered within one minute after the heart has stopped beating as a result of sudden cardiac arrest, the first-aid success rate could top 90%. It is a race between time and death. In Japan, since AEDs are now available at many places, the survival rate has increased from 7% to almost 40%. The AEDs installed by the Geotechnical Engineering Office on the trails, allow people to seize the golden rescue time by providing coma patients with immediate rescue. The Office aims to build a safer hiking environment for its citizens, and will devote its efforts to safeguarding citizens’ hiking safety.

PS: To download related pictures, please visit the website of the “Geotechnical Engineering Office of Public Works Department, Taipei City Government” at http://www.tcge.taipei.gov.tw/(Chinese)

List of trails where AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) are scheduled to be set up: