October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month and we’re encouraging everyone to locate and register AEDs

With your help dispatch center staff can inform 9-1-1 callers of nearby lifesaving devices.

In recognition of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, the PulsePoint Foundation will be holding a contest throughout the month of October to encourage AED location identification and registration so these life-saving devices can be disclosed to 9-1-1 dispatchers and those nearby during a cardiac emergency.

Anyone who registers an AED in October with the free PulsePoint AED app, or online at AED.new will be eligible to win one of ten $500 Amazon gift cards. Collectively, the community that registers the most AEDs will be granted $5,000 worth of new AEDs to provide to public safety staff or place in their community. Every AED you register gives you, and your community, another chance to win—and another chance to save a life.

Complete contest rules can be found on our website at pulsepoint.org/aedcontest.

WHY CATALOGING AED LOCATIONS IS CRUCIAL

More than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) occur annually in the U.S. making it a leading cause of death. Survival rates nationally for sudden cardiac arrest are less than 10 percent.

However, cardiac arrest victims who receive a shock from a publicly-available AED (automated external defibrillator) administered by a bystander prior to EMS arrival have 2-3 times better odds of survival to hospital discharge and more favorable outcomes. Without bystander AED use, 70 percent of cardiac arrest patients either die or survive with impaired brain function.

Despite the life-saving potential of AEDs, they are of no value if they cannot be located and placed into service during a cardiac emergency.