Bill moving through TN House requires some buildings to have an AED

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Chattanooga radio DJ Gene Lovin was at an event in 2016 when the unthinkable happened.

“I had posed for some pictures and collapsed.  I suffered a cardiac arrest.  A heat attack.  A severe heart attack,” Lovin said.

Doctors at the event were able to give him CPR and found two defibrillators, but neither worked.

The batteries were dead.

Lovin said EMTs finally arrived with a working defibrillator they used on him.

“The defibrillator put my heart back in rhythm, had that defibrillator not arrived with the paramedics then there wouldn’t have been anything to shock me back into that rhythm that your heart is supposed to be in.”

After the event, Lovin and his family got the ball rolling on a bill that’s currently making it’s way through the Tennessee State House by contacting Tennessee State Representative Marc Gravitt.

“What this bill would do is mandate any facility that’s over 12,000 square feet, public or private, to have a minimum of one working AED (automated external defibrillator) and maintain it to the specs, manufacturer specs, every month,” State Rep. Gravitt said.

Since the bill impacts public buildings, it would also impact schools that don’t have AEDs.

“There’s also been some teenagers that have been practicing football and basketball for athletics that have suffered and passed away fatally from heart attacks. Unfortunately, there’s 168 schools in the state of Tennessee that do not currently have AEDs,” State Rep. Gravitt said.

The original bill introduced last year focused on the population inside buildings when requiring AEDs.

Rep. Gravitt said he asked for the bill to be rolled over to this year after seeing a large opposition from the private sector.

Lovin with his daughters at the event he went into cardiac arrest in 2016