LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky community is making history by bringing potentially life-saving support to families.

What You Need To Know

  • About 350,000 Americans will die from sudden cardiac arrest this year, according to the American Red Cross

  • Saint Andrews Village in Louisville is the first community in Kentucky to have an autmoated external defibrillator accessible to anyone in the area 

  • For every minute after someone suffers from cardiac arrest, their chance of surivial decreases 10% according to the American Red Cross

According to the American Red Cross, about 350,000 Americans will die from sudden cardiac arrest this year, making it one of the leading causes of death in the country. 

For every minute after someone suffers from cardiac arrest, the chance of survival decreases 10%, the American Red Cross says. 

That’s why retired nurses Mary Pat Depaola and Donna Becherer are working with the Anchorage Middletown Fire Department to give people access to an automated external defibrillator. 

“It gets you the hospital. You’ve got to get oxygen to the person’s brain,” Becherer said. 

An AED reads the person’s heart rhythm and sends an electric shock if needed, which helps the heart to start beating effectively. 

The device gives step-by-step instructions so almost anyone can use it until first responders get to the scene.  

“It also empowers the community to take control for themselves, to help each other out before first responders get there, along with performing CPR,” said Dee Jay Kelly, the community risk reduction specialist for the Anchorage Middletown Fire and EMS Department. 

Depaola says the device is important because many people who live in the area could be at risk for cardiac arrest.  

“I think any community that has people who may have cardiac issues in particular or getting to a certain age who are concerned about developing such things would have one available,” Depoala says. 

This machine costs about $2,500. But the people involved with the project say there is no price on saving someone’s life.  

“What’s a life worth? If it saves one life? It definitely is worth the cost, you know, plus the just the, the assurance that it’s here, you know, that we have it,” Beecher says. 

Members of the community hope others will look into installing an AED where they live.  

The Anchorage Middletown Fire Department offers free CPR classes to groups, including schools, community centers and senior centers.

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