Are schools ready to handle cardiac emergencies in children?

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Automatic external defibrillators, or AEDs, are found at malls, airports, local jails and state prisons, but one Central Florida mother complained to Channel 9’s Nancy Alvarez that the state isn’t doing enough to equip schools with the potentially lifesaving device.

Jemma Oni, 12, went into cardiac arrest moments after she finished a dance recital last month at Eau Gallie High School.

Her mom sprang from the audience.

“I gave her two good rounds of CPR, compressions, breaths,” said the mother.

An AED also could have also been used. There are three on site at the high school, but there wasn’t one in the auditorium.

“It happens to people that look perfectly healthy, including children,” said Martha Lopez Anderson with Parent Heart Watch.

Lopez Anderson's 10-year-old son, Shawn, also had an undetected heart condition.

He collapsed while rollerblading in his neighborhood and died 12 years ago.

“It broke my heart, it changed my life forever. But learning my son's death could have been prevented-- that was hard to swallow,” Lopez Anderson said.

She and her group, Parent Heart Watch, have spent years working to fight what she calls a public health risk.

State law does not require middle and elementary schools to have AEDs on property; only high schools are required to have one. Even then, the law was unfunded. Local school districts must pay $2,000 for the machines, maintenance and training.

Parent Heart Watch recently donated an AED to Orla Vista Elementary School. It’s the 100th device given to the Orange County School District by the group.

At last count, 75 out of 125 elementary schools in Orange County have AED’s.

Lopez Anderson argues there should be guidelines and funds coming from a state level.

Eyewitness News reached out to Central Florida school districts to see who has AED’s in their schools.

In Osceola County, the AED’s are checked weekly, according to a school district spokesperson. The number of people trained at each school varies, but a minimum of two people other than the nurse are trained at each school. At the high schools, the athletic trainers are also trained.

READ: Osceola County list

Here is a list of where AEDs are located in Orange County. The district said the list was last updated August 2015 and more schools may have them that are not on the school list.

The Lake County School District also sent a list of schools equipped with AEDs, along with a copy of the maintenance checklist and handbook.

READ: Lake County School list

The Volusia County School District has one in every elementary school, and two to three in every secondary school.

AEDs are inspected monthly by clinic staff. Each school is required to have two people trained at elementary school sites and four people trained at secondary level schools.’

Trained personnel are posted throughout each school site in case of an emergency.

The Seminole County School District said all schools and district facilities have at least one AED.

READ: Seminole County School policy

Booster clubs have provided additional units for athletic programs at the high schools.

Replacement batteries, pads and supplies are funded by our Risk Management Department.

Contact Nancy Alvarez for more on this story.

Cox Media Group