American Heart Association Provides Area Police with Lifesaving Defibrillators
August 8, 2003
DAYTON -- The American Heart Association today presented police chiefs throughout the Miami Valley with a total of 20 lifesaving automated external defibrillators (AEDs). The portable devices, which restore a cardiac arrest victim’s normal heart rhythm by shocking the heart, will be placed in police cruisers in each municipality.
“When it comes to cardiac arrest, every second counts,” said Mark Gebhart, M.D., Vice President of the Miami Valley American Heart Association. “We’re thrilled to partner with these responders to save lives throughout the Miami Valley.”
In many rural areas of Ohio, it can take emergency vehicles several minutes to reach the scene of an emergency. Police vehicles are often first on the scene and have the best opportunity to save the life of someone suffering from cardiac arrest. In most cases, resuscitation attempts are unsuccessful in as little as ten minutes after a cardiac event.
Nationwide, 220,000 people die annually from sudden cardiac arrest. The survival rate is less than five percent, but the rate is much higher in areas where defibrillators are common.
Funds for the AEDs, which cost $2000 each including
training, were provided through a $40,000 grant from the Levin Family Foundation to the association’s Operation Heartbeat program, which focuses on saving lives from sudden cardiac arrest.
The association provided AEDs to police departments in Beavercreek, Bradford, Englewood, Greenville, Monroe, Miamisburg, Miami Township, Riverside, Trotwood, Union, and Yellow Springs, as well as the South Dayton Jewish Center.
