SCAA Puts the 'AED' in CPR/AED Week to Make Communities Safer, Better Equipped to Respond to Cardiac Arrest

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — For 30
years, the national survival rate of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)
has remained a low six percent. Recognizing the need for expanded
awareness of the public health crisis of SCA, the Sudden Cardiac
Arrest Association (SCAA) is donating 30 life-saving automated
external defibrillators (AEDs) to nonprofit community organizations
across the country as part of the Association’s “donAtED 2011”
program.

SCAA’s nationwide network of chapters will officially present
the devices at various public dedication ceremonies during National
CPR/AED Week, June 1-6, 2011.

“SCA continues to strike at alarming numbers in the United
States, yet our chapters are making extraordinary strides in
expanding awareness of the nation’s leading cause of death. This
donation effort is a vital element to our spectrum of SCA
awareness, which also includes education on preventive
heart/healthy lifestyles and bystander assistance as well as
implementation of broader access to publicly accessible AEDs,
developments in therapies/treatments and post-SCA recovery and
rehabilitation resources,” said Lisa A. Levine, CAE, president,
SCAA.

SCAA’s ” donAtED 2011″ program was made possible through support
from Cardiac Science, Defibtech and Zoll. “With their support,
we’ve been able to touch thousands of lives, particularly in rural
communities where SCA survival is even more sparse due to
geographic barriers,” notes Levine. “These companies have placed a
patient-centered approach at the forefront of doing business, which
demonstrates why they are industry leaders in the development of
lifesaving emergency response and resuscitation technology.”

A sampling of the 30 local organizations receiving AEDs
includes: