Pay It Forward

MWRTA bus

Photo credit: John Keklak

January 5, 2012 - As we start a new year, this "pay it forward" story is a good one to keep in mind. It started when the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation provided a grant to the Framingham, Mass., police department to buy 35 automated external defibrillators (AEDs). The police department then turned around and donated some of its existing AEDs to the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority for use on local buses that service 11 Massachusetts communities. In addition, police officers offered two classes on CPR and the use of the AEDs to the Regional Transit Authority bus drivers and employees.

The average survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year is 7%.¹ If an AED is used by a bystander, the rate increase to 38%.²

¹ American Heart Association. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2009 Update. Dallas, Texas: American Heart Association, 2009.
² Weisfeldt ML, Sitlani CM, Ornato JP, et al., on behalf of the ROC Investigators. J Am Coll Cardiol 2010;55:1713-1720.