Medstar awards North Branch Wesleyan Church with AED donation

Placement made possible through the EMS organization’s “Shock and Save initiative“

On June 26th, Medstar, Michigan’s largest EMS and mobile health provider, presented an automated external defibrillator (AED) to North Branch Wesleyan Church. The donation was made possible through funds raised through Medstar’s “Shock and Save Initiative.”  Medstar provides matching funds from community events to ensure more people have access to life-saving devices. The devices are provided to local governments, civic, education, and nonprofit organizations with large group facilities throughout the Medstar service area.

 “There are over 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the US every year, and they frequently occur in public places like churches and schools,” said Kolby Miller, CEO of Medstar. “We know that community access to AEDs, combined with immediate CPR, is the most effective way to treat out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. We are happy to support the North Branch Wesleyan Church in their efforts to ensure that, if a cardiac arrest happens at their church, they are prepared and equipped to save the life of their member or guest.”

Operations supervisor Jeremy Compau presented the AED to church leaders and discussed how to use and store this life-saving device. Through The Shock and Save initiative, Medstar will maintain the device and provide AED AND CPR classes for church members.

Fast Facts:

Since 2015, Medstar has donated AEDs to schools, churches, and other nonprofit and civic organizations and trained over 1,900 people in CPR free of charge.

In 2021, Medstar hosted two golf outings to raise money for the AED purchases. $80,000 was raised, and Medstar matched every dollar raised so that the organization could provide $160,000 of AEDs throughout its service area.

Only 10% of people who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survive. Survival chances double if bystanders use an AED before first responders arrive.

A recent study found that investing in AEDs was the most effective way to improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates. A $1 million investment translates into more than a hundred lives saved.

Michigan provides legal immunity to people who use AEDs or provide CPR to patients in cardiac arrest.

For more information: https://www.medstarambulance.org/aed/ 

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