FLORENCE, Ky. — Major hospital systems in northern Kentucky and Cincinnati are partnering to bring automatic external defibrillators to police cruisers in the region.

A person leading the charge had his life changed when an AED didn’t show up fast enough to the scene of a tragedy. Now he’s focused on making sure no one has to go through what he did.

The lives of Josh Vogel and Rocke Saccone tragically became forever intertwined during a baseball game more than 20 years ago in Campbell County.

Vogel was pitching, and Saccone’s son Justin was hitting.

“I struck Justin in the chest with a baseball when he squared to bunt. And I walked down to make sure Justin was okay, and he nodded. And I turned back toward the pitcher’s mound, and at that point Justin fell and went into cardiac arrest, and died on the field,” Vogel recalled to a crowd at the Florence Nature Center on Tuesday. “It took 13 minutes for Justin to get an AED when the ambulance arrived. And at that point, it was just too late.”

At just 16 years old, Vogel was traumatized. But he said the next day was the hardest of his life.

“It’s when I had to tell Rocke and Justin’s mom that I was sorry for taking their son’s life. And I kind of didn’t deal with a lot of the emotions that come with that situation,” he said.

Saccone had just lost a son, a pain no one should experience.

“Everybody deserves a chance. And Justin didn’t have a chance because they didn’t have the equipment on the field, nor did the first responders who were there,” he said.

He and Justin’s mother made Vogel promise to keep playing baseball.

“We wanted him to be okay. We didn’t need anymore lives hurt because of this. It was an accident. It was no fault,” Saccone said.

Now Vogel is a committee member of the Heart Restart Project, which started after the world watched Damar Hamlin have his life saved by an AED.

For phases one and two of the project, more than $500,000 was raised to put AEDs in police cruisers in Hamilton County, Ohio and surrounding areas.

Members of the Heart Restart announced phase three Tuesday in Florence. Christ Hospital is partnering with St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Avive Solutions, the One Shot Foundation and local rotary clubs to put AEDs in police cruisers in Boone, Kenton, Campbell and Pendleton counties.

“There are large metropolises that have not been able to do what you guys are doing,” said Mark Peters, vice president of sales for Avive Solutions, which is supplying the AED devices. “Less than 5% of the time when EMS or law enforcement arrives on the scene, there is an AED deployed onto somebody having sudden cardiac arrest. That’s an issue. That’s an issue you guys are combating.”

Vogel helped lead the charge to bring Heart Restart to northern Kentucky.

“I really wanted to get involved and then I really was able to deal with a lot of the things that I didn’t deal with when I was a child,” he said. “It’s just an overwhelming joy that we could save so many lives, because it’s not a matter of if these units get used, it’s a matter of when.”

Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallory said every minute of delay in use of AED can decrease survival rate by 7-10%.

“In those cases where we are there for a few minutes before EMS can arrive, to have this ability to do the lifesaving things that we need to do with the AEDs, is something that’s unmeasurable for the community,” Mallory said.

The project has also given Vogel and Saccone the chance to reconnect.

“To see what he’s become and the work that he’s doing, and how he’s taken this tragedy and he’s turned it into this wonderful mission, I can’t tell you how proud I am of him,” Saccone said.

Even more importantly, it’s going to give more people something his son never had.

“Now I think everybody will have a chance. And at the end of the day, that’s all we can ask for,” Saccone said. “It’s exorcised some demons myself, and I’m really happy and grateful that I’ve been able to do that.”

St. Elizabeth announced it will give the first $150,000 to get this program launched, and the St. Elizabeth Foundation is committing to raising another $150,000.

“This will almost certainly mean less cardiac arrest related deaths in our community,” said Garden Colvin, President and CEO of St. Elizabeth Healthcare.

The goal is to get all the AEDs into police cruisers by the end of the year.