AED School Program at Its Best: Atlanta Public Schools' Partnership With Cardiac Science

/PRNewswire/ -- Cardiac Science Corporation (NASDAQ:CSCX) , a global leader in automated external defibrillator (AED) and diagnostic cardiac monitoring devices, announced the expansion of the largest AED deployment of any school system in Georgia with 195 Powerheart AED G3 devices from Cardiac Science.

The Atlanta Public School AED program started with 100 Cardiac Science AEDs in 2007 and has grown; now protecting 102 locations with more than 1,100 trained responders. "In Atlanta Public Schools, we not only want to ensure every student learns at high levels; we want to ensure every student is safe," said Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall.

"The district-wide deployment of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and trained on-staff first responders is a meaningful component of our emergency preparedness," Hall added. "Parents can take comfort in this security measure, driven by our own on-the-ground team of security professionals with help from leading health care experts in the community."

Often a school AED program is led by school nurses or the athletic department. In this case, the Fulton County Public Schools' Police Department and its Deputy Chief Marquenta A. Sands worked with distributor School Health Corporation and Cardiac Science Corporation to drive AED adoption.

Dave Marver, Cardiac Science president and chief executive officer, said, "We've become very good at helping major school systems with their AED programs. In addition to Atlanta, we help protect young people at large school systems in Houston, Miami, Tampa, San Diego, and throughout Ohio, New York, and Texas, which have state mandates requiring AED placement in schools. We're pleased to have partnered with School Health, Children's Healthcare, and the AHA to make this happen."

Chief Sands explained, "We need to protect our young people - and sudden cardiac arrest is a real threat to their safety. According to the American Heart Association, approximately 7,000 young people will die a sudden cardiac death this year alone. With our AED school program, we're hoping to lower that tragic toll."

Marver added, "Relatively few metropolitan public school systems in the US have formal AED programs, despite the growing number of legal mandates that protect schoolchildren against sudden cardiac arrest. We've chosen to focus on the school AED market with the intent that children everywhere would have the level of safety now provided in Atlanta."

"My deep thanks to Cardiac Science, Children's Healthcare, School Health, and the AHA for their support. We far exceeded the acceptance, visibility, and scope of our initial goals," said Chief Sands. "Ten percent of the staff is trained at each school and several schools voluntarily committed to having 100 percent of the staff trained."

Atlanta Public Schools also created a dedicated training facility available to people in the Atlanta community to learn CPR and AED use at no charge. And the school AED program is compliant with civil immunity requirements afforded by Georgia's Good Samaritan law for AED use.

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