Sandy Springs launches citizen volunteer AED program
Sandy Springs launched a community program that dispatches CPR-trained citizen volunteers with advanced and connected defibrillators.
The city’s Avive Solutions 4 Minute Community Program aims to close the gap between the onset of cardiac arrest and the arrival of professional emergency responders, according to a news release.
Northside Hospital Foundation and Northside Hospital Heart Institute have provided 103 Avive Connect AEDs to start the program, the release said.
The program will leverage historical data on Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) in specific areas, according to the release.
Each Avive Connect AED is integrated with Sandy Springs’ 911 Emergency Communications Center, Chattahoochee River 911 Authority (ChatComm). When a 911 cardiac arrest call comes in, telecommunicators will activate the Avive AEDs within one mile of the suspected cardiac arrest emergency, the release said. The AEDs will alert citizen volunteers when they need to be used nearby and provide directions to the emergency.
Once triggered, the nearby AEDs flash a red screen and sound an alarm. The AEDs give citizen volunteers directions to the scene and guide them through the emergency with step-by-step CPR and defibrillation instructions.
The launch of the program is made possible through a donation of more than 100 Avive Connect AEDs by the Northside Hospital Foundation and Northside Hospital Heart Institute, the release said. The Sandy Springs’ 4 Minute Community Program will work to strategically place 200 AEDs in the hands of trained individuals in the community, increasing bystander intervention and providing rapid response when time matters most.
“This program not only helps save lives in the field — it also gives our medical teams a clearer picture of what occurred in those crucial first minutes of cardiac arrest,” said Dr. Jeffrey Marshall, cardiologist with Northside Hospital Heart Institute, the release said. “With access to real-time data and insights captured before EMS even arrives, we can make more informed clinical decisions the moment a patient enters our care.”
For more information and to volunteer in the 4 Minute Community Program, please visit the Avive website.
The post Sandy Springs launches citizen volunteer AED program appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.