(Forsyth County, GA) Forsyth County is coming closer to its goal of improving out-of-hospital heart attack survival rates by becoming a “4 Minute City” (4MC).
Last February, the county announced its partnership with Avive Solutions Inc, to reduce the response time to cardiac arrests to four minutes by using the company’s Connect AEDs, which are Automated External Defibrillators built with Wifi, Bluetooth, cellular and GPS capabilities in order to get the AED to emergency situations faster.
The county is the third community in the nation to partner with Avive to become a 4MC.
“Our 911 team knows that each second after a cardiac arrest call comes in is crucial to getting medical attention to the victim before it’s too late,” said EMA/911 Director Tom Cisco. “Having these AEDs available for our 911 professionals to dispatch so close to the scene of the incident, as well as the willing citizens on the CARE Team ready to accept those calls, is an incredible resource that we are fortunate to have added to our emergency response measures.”
Several months later on Tuesday, July 25, 30 people with first responder and/or medical training spent the day at the Forsyth County Public Safety complex to be trained to use the new devices. Each one went home with a new AED, the first of 300 AEDs planned to be spread throughout the county.
These individuals are the first members of the Forsyth County 4MC Cardiac Arrest Rapid Engagement (CARE) Team. Members will be dispatched to assist with cardiac arrest victims in their area before EMS arrives at the scene. The team will also smooth out the details of the program before more candidates are needed to be assigned to the other 270 AEDs.
Cinde Boyden is one of the first members of the CARE Team and also a volunteer at the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.
“Volunteering for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office has provided me with many wonderful opportunities to service our community, which I am grateful for,” Boyden said. “I am honored and humbled to be a part of the Avive team. The knowledge and equipment I have been entrusted with could help save the life of a community member, and I can’t think of anything better than that.”
The 4MC program is a collaboration between Forsyth County, Avive, Northside Hospital Forsyth, Central EMS, Forsyth County Fire Department, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, Forsyth County Emergency Management Agency/911 and the Forsyth County Healthcare Association, which is an initiative of the Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce.
To learn more about the 4MC program and how to become a member of the CARE Team, visit avive.life/forsyth.
If you have a news tip in Forsyth County, contact Justine Lookenott at justine.lookenott@newsbreak.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at @justalookenott.
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