On February 13, 2018, the Bolt For The Heart (BFTH) foundation continued to deliver on the promise to equip Indiana State Police patrol vehicles with lifesaving Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) with the gift of 90 additional AED’s. This brings the total number of AEDs donated to the state police to 305 since the first donation was made in 2014.
At the presentation event, held at the State Fairgrounds’ Indiana Farm Bureau Building, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter thanked Pierre Twer, the President and founder of the foundation, for his consistent support and dedication to put lifesaving AED devices in state police patrol cars. Pierre was also presented with a Proclamation from Gov. Eric Holcomb which proclaimed February 13, 2018 as “Bolt For The Heart Dayâ€. The President of IU Health, Jon Goble also spoke and made a special presentation to Good Samaritan Bill Schiles and Carmel Police Officer Richard Lovitt, who shared their story of how they used CPR and an AED to save a person’s life.
More About Bolt For The Heart
The donation of the AED’s to the state police was borne the result of an experience Pierre Twer had while running in the 2010 Boston Marathon. During that race Pierre witnessed another marathon runner suffer a cardiac arrest. That runner was saved by an AED.
This inspired Pierre to collaborate with Heart Reach Carmel and establish the Bolt for the Heart 5K Family Thanksgiving Run, of which 2017 was the sixth year for the run and the third consecutive year the Indiana State Police was the primary recipient of the AED’s. Since its inception, this 5K run has grown from 41 runners to more than 2,800 that participated this past Thanksgiving Day run or in a virtual run held at locations across Indiana.
Each year since the run started 100% of the proceeds have been used to purchase AED’s for donation to not for profit organizations.
In 2015, the Board of Directors of Bolt for the Heart identified the Indiana State Police as the recipient of AED’s from funds raised in the 2015 Thanksgiving Day run, which ISP Supt. Carter was also a registered runner. In fact Supt. Carter ran the entire 5K run in full state police uniform!
At the conclusion of the press conference attending troopers were issued their AED’s and placed window stickers on their patrol cars to easily identify the police vehicle was equipped with an AED.
History & Source of AED’s Donated to ISP Through BFTH:
2014 = Bolt Donation Day                                         5 AED’s
2015 = Bolt for the Heart Race, Presented in 2016  55 AED’s
2016 = IU Health Donation Day                               15 AED’s
2016 = IU Health Additional Surprise                      50 AED’s
2016 = Indiana State Police Alliance                        10 AED’s
2016 = IU Health Community Engagement Dept     30 AED’s
2016 = Bolt for the Heart Race                                 50 AED’s
2017 = Bolt for the Heart Race, Presented in 2018  90 AED’s
