January 7, 2008–BISMARK–All public and private schools in North Dakota will soon be outfitted with automated external defibrillators (AEDs), thanks to the 2007 North Dakota Legislature, which appropriated $400,000 for the Safe Heart Schools program. The AEDs went to schools that did not already have such devices.

“In the event of sudden cardiac arrest, someone can be resuscitated very easily (with an AED). We have a lot of rural schools that have access to EMS services that are 40 miles away and that are often volunteer. To rely on somebody that distance away, and a volunteer effort, is pretty scary,” said Valerie Fischer, director of school health for the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (DPI).