Every law enforcement car in LaPorte County now has a life-saving automatic external defibrillator officers can use to revive people who suffer cardiac arrest.
Bolt for the Heart, Franciscan Health Michigan City Hospital and Play for Jake Foundation partnered on the years-long initiative, part of a broader ongoing effort to put life-saving AEDs in police cars across the state. They recently presented the final 26 AEDs to seven law enforcement agencies in LaPorte County.
Franciscan Health Michigan City President and CEO Dean Mazzoni said it was “an example of how organizations can come together with a common vision to achieve a common goal.”
The Bolt for the Heart walk/run in LaPorte raised the funds for the AEDs, which were given to police in Long Beach, Trail Creek, Purdue University Northwest, Kingsford Heights, Westville, Kingsbury, Pottawattomie Park and LaPorte. LaPorte County is now one of three Indiana counties with an AED in every police car.
“When seconds count, we’re ready,” LaPorte Mayor Tom Dermody said. “We will hear soon enough that (local law enforcement officers) are saving a life.”
Bolt for the Heart Founder Pierre Twer said the program has placed 165 AEDs in squad cars at an estimated cost of $330,000.
“This doesn’t happen without the support and vision of Franciscan Health,” Twer said. “Dean Mazzoni sat down with me with this vision and here we are reaching this goal today.”
Project backer and Play for Jake Foundation Founder Julie West lost her son Jake to cardiac arrest as a result of an undiagnosed heart condition on the LaPorte High School football practice field in 2013.
“It’s important to raise awareness on having readily available AEDs in our community,” West said. “Having our first responders equipped with these lifesaving devices, lives will be saved.”
It’s estimated about 335,000 people die a year of sudden cardiac arrest. It affects all ages and fitness levels. About 95% of victims of sudden cardiac arrest died because CPR and defibrillation were not administered in a timely enough fashion, a statistic that led to the Bolt for the Heart initiative.
“As you know, law enforcement out in the field is first on the scene so often,” LaPorte Police Chief Paul Brettin said. “Officers know how important this is.”
