Indiana State Police Grateful for Donation of 15 Automatic External Defibrillators from IU Health

Today Indiana University Health jumpstarted registration for the 5th Annual Bolt for the Heart 5K Family Thanksgiving Run with a donation of 15 Automatic External Defibrillators (AED). The AEDs were presented to the Bolt for the Heart Foundation and the Indiana State Police (ISP) during a press conference at IU Health North Hospital. IU Health sponsors the annual Bolt for the Heart run, which has placed 60 AEDs in State Police cruisers in the more rural parts of Indiana.

“More than 300,000 people experience a life threatening cardiac rhythm outside of a hospital setting each year and less than 8 percent survive,” says Mary Baker, Vice President of Cardiovascular Services for IU Health. “For every minute that passes without action, an individual’s survival drops by 10 percent.”

Often, the first person to respond to a 911 call is the Indiana State Police.  IU Health is committed to providing the ISP access to automatic external defibrillators for the treatment of sudden cardiac death across Indiana.

In 2015, the Board of Directors of Bolt for the Heart identified the ISP as the ‘primary benefactor’ to continue receiving AED’s until every state police patrol car is equipped with this life saving device. To date, Bolt for the Heart has donate 60 AED’s to the Indiana State Police, which have been placed in more rural parts of Indiana where a state police officer could be the first to arrive at a medical emergency.

Also present at the press conference was Superintendent Douglas G. Carter, Superintendent of the Indiana State Police; Jonathan Goble, President of IU Heath’s North Central Region, Pierre Twer, President of Bolt for the Heart and the Rhoad Family.

Danny Rhoad, age 13, was saved by an AED that had been placed at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind. While playing in a ballgame in May of this year, Danny suffered SCA after being hit in the chest by a thrown ball. Coaches ran to one of the park’s concessions stands to grab an AED and used the defibrillator to restore Danny’s heartbeat.

Each year sudden cardiac arrest claims the lives 335,000 people, like Danny, without warning. If the first person on the scene knew CPR and applied an AED within 5 minutes, the American Heart Association estimates that at least 40,000 more lives per year could be saved.