Life-saving devices also put in MHPD patrol cars

Published in the September 14-27, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Staff Report

Leaders of the Morgan Hill community met at Live Oak High School’s gym Sept. 8 to launch a program that places automatic external defibrillators in schools and the community. Students were invited to learn how to use AEDs from American Heart Association representatives.

Racing Hearts, a nonprofit based in Palo Alto, asked for Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to create a matching reserve of $500,000 to fund and install life saving AEDs (devices which send an electric shock to restart a heart after sudden cardiac arrest) around the county in high risk community locations. In June 2015, the board approved a recommendation from Supervisor Cindy Chavez to allocate Measure A and EMS Trust Fund resources to establish funds to place AEDs throughout the county.

Working with the county’s public health department, Racing Hearts has helped identify key locations within the county for this life saving equipment. In the first seven months, the matching grant program has received 75 percent of the funds allocated to purchase a total of 301 AEDs installed in 215 locations. The city of Morgan Hill, including all the school sites within the Morgan Hill Unified School District, will be the second largest deployment of AEDs in the county to date.

“We are thrilled and inspired by the collaboration between Racing Hearts and the matching contribution from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to bring this program to our schools, and in essence, to the southern portion of the county,” said MHUSD Superintendent Steve Betando.

“The installation of AEDs in Morgan Hill is the most recent way that the county is providing ‘Real Life Help’ to our residents on a daily basis,” said County Supervisor Mike Wasserman, who represents Morgan Hill and South County. “I have no doubt that these devices will help save lives.”

The addition of AEDs in patrol vehicles will save lives, said Morgan Hill Police Chief David Swing.

With the passage of SB658, not only is the county providing AEDs through the region but with the cost savings associated with SB658 is increasing protection for thousands of more community members for years to come, said Racing Hearts President and Founder, Stephanie Martinson.

Since its founding as a nonprofit in 2012, Racing Hearts has placed 499 AEDs in the county and increased the heart safety of more than 1,409,000 community members.