KENMORE, N.Y. (WKBW) — If you were in a situation that required you to use an AED, would you know where to find one?
They are life-saving devices that have gotten a lot of attention in the Western New York community over the last year.
Much of that spotlight was drawn by Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest on the field, in Cincinnati in January.
Since then, he has been going around to several community groups including through the American Heart Association teaching folks the importance of CPR and how to do it.
"Time is the enemy. Within 10 minutes, someone could lose enough oxygen that it's going to be fatal or at least life-altering, if it's not within certain amount of time," Rotary Club of Kenmore former president Larry Coon said.
Larry Coon is part of a partnership with a nonprofit called Cardiac Crusade run by his cousin, located in Dallas.
He represents the Rotary Club of Kenmore hoping to be the boots on the ground effort to ensure every location in Western New York has access to AED's.
"An AED is the only thing that will bring a cardiac arrest patient back but CPR buys them time," he added.
Cardiac Crusade co-founder Greg Coon explained, "If a sudden cardiac arrest victim is shocked with an AED within the first minute of collapse, the chances of survival are close to 90%."
Greg Coon and his wife Julie are co-founders of cardiac crusade.
The Texas-based nonprofit is personal for Julie because she suffered a cardiac arrest in 2018, while on a school visit.
"I am alive today because of that AED and the CPR that they gave me," she explained.
Here is how the partnership works:
- Identify and register AED locations. Open a browser on a smartphone and type aed.new. In the "Search business name or address" field, enter the business name and follow instructions.
- Become an AED location verifier so 911 operators can access those AEDs to direct bystanders to retrieve the closest AED. Training takes 20 minutes via Cardiac Crusade's website. Click the red button: "Become an AED Location Verifier."
- Add outdoor AED Kiosks to public places in communities. Cardiac Crusade has a program for those connected to local government leaders to get AED kiosks in local parks, athletic fields, and other public gathering locations. Contact Cardiac Crusade for details.
- Be a Cardiac Crusade champion. A Cardiac Crusade champion leads an "army of volunteers" in their city. Download "Get AED Locations on the Map in YOUR City – A Step by Step Guide" from the Cardiac Crusade website,
- Cardiac Crusade's initiative is currently in phase 1: Registering AED locations, and making those locations available to 911 systems. The phase two goal is getting AED locations searchable natively on a phone via Google Maps and Apple Maps.
They are recruiting an army of volunteers to identify and register AED locations into the national registry.
The database is available to all 911 systems in the U.S. and Canada at no cost.
That is where the Rotary Club of Kenmore comes in.
"In Western New York, we are way behind so we have a lot of opportunity to increase those numbers so that 911 dispatchers will know where they are and eventually the general public will be able to know where they are as well," Larry Coon told Pheben Kassahun.
Anyone can volunteer to get AED locations on the map.
The groups are hoping to spread it to other rotary clubs, medical groups and others who would like to help save lives from cardiac arrests.
