03/20/2001 --
The continuing partnership between the
American Heart Association and the Rapides Foundation has entered the AED deployment
phase. Over the next four months, 75 AEDs will be placed in five
Central Louisiana parishes. Fire departments and other first-to-respond units
such as police and sheriff's department cruisers will receive AED training and
equipment.
Currently, only 15 percent of rural fire
departments in Central Louisiana have AED's. Few, if any, law enforcement /
police vehicles are equipped. The effort will ensure that nearly 100 percent of
rural first fire responders \ are equipped with AEDs and are trained to use
them.
The effort will place AEDs in law enforcement vehicles on a .limited basis. AEDs will be placed as follows:
 |
Rapides Parish-35 in fire fighting vehicles, 4 in police cruises |
|
Winn Parish-12 in fire fighting vehicles, 4 in police cruisers |
|
The remaining 17 units will be split between Avoyelles, Lasalle, and Grant Parishes. |
Additional AED units will be placed in
Avoyelles, Lasalle, and Grant in ---June. Future plans include expansion of the
project to the remainder of the parishes in Central Louisiana.
In addition to AED placement in first
response -vehicles, the American Heart Association and the Rapides Foundation
plan to eventually place AEDs in schools, churches and other public places.
The devices are so easy to use that anyone
trained in Heartsaver CPR (a four-hour course) can learn to operate one. The
goal is to improve cardiac arrest survival rates in the United Stated b 20
percent, or 40,000 lives per year by 2010.
Please call the American Heart Association office at 443- 7522 if you have any questions.