More than 4,000 citizens trained in CPR and how to use AEDs
CHELMSFORD, MASS.—The city of Tigre in the Province of Buenos Aires, has installed automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public areas throughout this popular tourist destination, making it the first Heart Safe City in Argentina.
The city government partnered with community leaders, commercial establishments, and the tourism industry to strategically locate the AEDs and encase them in “totem pole” stations in heavily trafficked areas. These vivid red kiosks are brightly labeled “Public Access Defibrillator” and painted with instructions on how to use them. The city’s emergency response bicycle patrols, its emergency response vehicles, as well as all police units, were equipped with the AEDs.
The “cardio-protect” program also included a massive CPR training program in which over 4,000 lay personnel from fruit vendors and bus drivers to those working in area shops, restaurants, marine terminals, and transportation systems learned CPR and how to use AEDs. A YouTube video in Spanish shows the magnitude of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYkiSD13MEM&feature=youtu.be.
“Realizing that we could improve survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest by teaching people CPR and how to use an AED, we decided to implement the community-wide program,” said Juan Manual Carballido, Director of EMS, City of Tigre.
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