Project Heart Start: AEDs for Community Organizations › Heart and Vascular Center › Services

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Project Heart Start

 Each year, 225,000 Americans are struck by sudden cardiac arrest. Approximately 95 percent of them do not survive. Chances of survival decrease  7  percent to 10 percent every minute. The average emergency response time is eight to 12 minutes.

An electrical shock from a defibrillator is the single most effective way to restore a normal heart rhythm in the event of sudden cardiac arrest. Because every second counts, access to an automated external defibrillator (AED) can considerably improve survival rates. That immediate access is available through the Saint Vincent Heart Center’s Project Heart Start.

Project Heart Start makes AEDs readily accessible in businesses, churches, schools, emergency response vehicles and places where people congregate throughout the community. AEDs are designed for use by first responders to the scene of a cardiac arrest before paramedics arrive. They are small, portable and easy to use. Audible and visual prompts tell users what to do. In most states, anyone with minimal training in CPR and AED operation can use an AED.

Since 1999, more than 300 AEDs have been purchased and placed in schools, churches, businesses and community centers in the region through Project Heart Start. Project Heart Start is made possible by a partnership between the Saint Vincent Heart Center and the AED manufacturer Medtronic Physio-Control. Thanks to this partnership, AED packages can be obtained through Saint Vincent at a reasonable cost.

Saint Vincent Heart Center’s Project Heart Start program also provides medical direction and supervision, ongoing professional management and assistance in meeting federal, state and local requirements, quality assurance provided in the form of quarterly reviews of all events that occur (events are downloaded into a Saint Vincent Heart Center database), and a single point of contact.

You and your organization can help save precious lives. For more information about Project Heart Start, 
contact the Project Heart Start Coordinator, Lora Joint at 814-452-7741 or by clicking here.