ALBANY, NY -- New York health clubs are required by law to have emergency medical equipment to respond quickly to a heart attack, but according to a recent survey by the New York Attorney General’s Office, two-thirds of the gyms across the state lack cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment such as gloves and breathing masks.
“Every moment counts to a person in cardiac arrest,” says Eliot Spitzer, state attorney general, whose staff surveyed the health clubs. “Increasing compliance with this law will help save lives.”
Thirty-five out of the 231 clubs that were surveyed had CPR equipment, but more than 80 percent of the clubs with more than 500 members reported that they complied with the law to have defibrillators and trained operators on site.
Download a PDF of the report.