Social Awareness from Analysis of Available Time for Automated External Defibrillators in a City

In this paper, we conduct an investigation of available time for automated external defibrillators (AED) in a Japanese city. In Japan, there are about 600,000 AEDs available in cities or towns, but only 4.9% of AEDs are used by bystanders when citizens suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. One reason of such low usage rate comes from their available time. Since many AEDs are installed by business owners, they are not available when their business is closed. We investigate the available time of AEDs in a Japanese city, Takatsuki, Osaka Japan. The number of AEDs that are available 24 hours can be increased by installing new AEDs in 24-hour convenience stores and a koban that is a small police station with policemen.