Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are positioned and maintained throughout our community thanks to a longstanding commitment by Eastern Plumas Health Care, local fire departments, Plumas County Public Health, and Sierra County Departments of Education and Public Health who participate in the national HEARTSafe Community program. Survival decreases by 10% every minute after a sudden cardiac arrest. Bystanders can help save lives by starting CPR and retrieving and using an AED to reestablish the heart’s rhythm before emergency services arrive. Sound intimidating? It’s not. Corina Tidwell, EPHC’sEducation Coordinator & EMT-Paramedic teaches CPR to 6th graders in Loyalton and they use AEDs and perform CPR without difficulty. She says, “My goal is to have 100% of our community, 6th grade and up, CPR certified. It’s so important that I would love for it to be a requirement to graduate high school.”

At EPHC, Corina and Amy Burkhart, Emergency Services Manager & Paramedic, are on a campaign to increase these critical tools in the cardiac arrest “chain of survival.”Corina and Amy are accepting donations for more strategically located, publicly accessible AEDs. They cost about $2,000 each. Businesses that sponsor an AED receive a free CPR class for their staff. Individuals can also sponsor an AED. A plaque next to the AED will acknowledge donations. Make a tax-deductible donation through the EPHC Foundation at ephc.org or contact Barbara Sokolov, EPHC Foundation Manager, at 530-832-6598 or barbara.sokolov@ephc.org

To learn where AEDs are located, download the free app, PulsePoint- AED. The app can also guide you through CPR and how to use the safe, user-friendly AEDs, as will a 911 dispatcher.