Calling it a “real gamechanger for saving lives” across the country including the Midstate, The Peyton Walker Foundation (PWF) and Emergency Health Services Federation (EHSF) announced the launch of a new, innovative 4-Minute City (4MC) Program today at Lower Allen Township Municipal Building. PWF and EHSF are teaming up with Avive Solutions, Inc. and Cumberland County 911 and other Public Safety Agencies across the county along with UPMC Pinnacle Foundation to implement this novel Program, which will involve deploying a revolutionary, next-generation Automated External Defibrillator (AED)*** throughout the region that is designed to have connectivity capabilities to 911 Call Centers, public safety agencies, and downstream healthcare providers in an effort to create a comprehensive system of care to improve survivability for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) emergencies.
In Pennsylvania, the innovative 4 Minute City Program will first be implemented in Cumberland County, Pa. to strategically deploy next-generation AEDs throughout the community, featuring a first of its kind OHCA response solution. Once the initiative is fully activated in the County, the goal is to get AEDs to the scene of a nearby cardiac arrest emergency, sooner than first responders, in hopes of saving countless lives a year.
“This initiative will have a direct impact on increasing the survival rates of cardiac arrest – sparing many families from a lifetime of heartache. Deploying several hundred of these life-saving AEDs and educating our community on how to perform CPR can certainly help lead to lives being saved. I’m incredibly proud to be part of this initiative and am so thankful for all of the partners who are supporting this. ‘Four Minute City’ is now officially part of my daughter’s legacy,” says Julie Walker, executive director of The Peyton Walker Foundation and mother of Peyton, whose young life was cut short due to sudden cardiac arrest. Walker and others stressed that this technology is game changing and they believe this new Program will empower communities to better respond to cardiac arrest emergencies and save more lives.
Steve Lyle, Executive Director, Emergency Health Services Federation, who is also spearheading this new program said, “I’ve been a Paramedic for a long time and have responded to countless sudden cardiac arrest patients. The ‘chain of survival’ is a real concept; however, despite well-trained medics arriving with state-of-the-art equipment, time is the enemy. The 4 Minute City initiative uses current technology to complete the chain of survival using citizens who might be next door. I am a part of this initiative because it makes sense. This is truly neighbors helping neighbors.”
Cumberland County public safety and healthcare leaders said they are eager to implement Avive’s new comprehensive hardware + software platform solution, so they can create a more connected system of response and get more AEDs where they are needed with the help of bystander response throughout the County.
With the new Avive AEDs still undergoing FDA review, Steering Committee members explained that in the interim, there’s still much work to do to ensure they are prepared to save lives. They are focusing on education and training of communities on how to perform CPR and use an AED. In addition, public safety and healthcare leaders are getting the infrastructure in place behind the scenes to help this Program be successful.
Generally, Avive’s 4MC Program aims to tackle the enormous healthcare challenge of OHCA in communities by:
strategically deploying a significant number of Avive’s connected AEDs, coupled with implementing the Company’s comprehensive response solution – which has the potential to help save lives and help ensure the best quality heart and vascular care in partner communities.
While Avive’s AED is in the FDA review cycle and has not yet been approved for sale in the U.S, cities and counties have expressed great interest in adopting this solution when it’s available via Avive’s 4-Minute City Program. Many cities and counties, such as Cumberland County, Pa., are in the process of planning the implementation of Avive’s
platform technology. The targeted deployment strategy will leverage historical cardiac arrest data to focus on putting AEDs in known high-risk locations, and even in the hands of trained citizens within high-risk areas of the community.
“We are excited to add Cumberland County to our growing list of Partner Communities for the 4-Minute City Program,” said Sameer Jafri, Founder/CEO, Avive Solutions. “At Avive, our team strives to challenge the status quo by building innovative technologies that have an opportunity to help communities better respond to cardiac arrest emergencies – with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes. From our first interaction, it’s been clear that the community, public safety, and healthcare leaders in Cumberland County are also equally driven to approach this challenging problem of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest response differently. We look forward to working closely with our local Partners to implement the 4-Minute City Program in Cumberland County, with an eye towards working with them to scale this Program across the Region.”
Steering Committee Members include: Avive Solutions, Emergency Health Services Federation, The Peyton Walker Foundation, Cumberland County 911, Cumberland Goodwill EMS, Lower Allen Township EMS, UPMC, UPMC Pinnacle Foundation, Penn State Hershey Life Lion EMS and Penn State Health.
Megan Ruby, Director of System Operations, Emergency Health Services Federation echoed her colleagues saying, “Sudden cardiac arrest is the type of EMS dispatch a provider does not forget. Scenes are often chaotic with emotional family or bystanders. As a provider you pour every ounce of your training and skills into attempting to resuscitate this human being. The science shows that for a person in cardiac arrest, every minute without CPR decreases the chance of survival by 10%. The reality of the EMS system is EMS cannot be within a few minutes of every dispatched incident. Based on the science, by the time EMS arrives on scene, the chance of survivability has decreased significantly. The 4-Minute City initiative is vital to saving the lives of members in our community. The quick response and action through the cardiac arrest notification with an Avive AED will get the individual suffering sudden cardiac arrest the immediate CPR and AED to increase their chance to survive. The community is key to helping EMS respond to a patient with higher survivability and ultimately the key resource to someone having a second chance at life.”
The Peyton Walker Foundation is spearheading fundraising efforts to fund the Program in Cumberland County. UPMC and UPMC Pinnacle Foundation are major funding partners for this Program. For more information about the 4-Minute City Program in Cumberland County – Visit www.4minutePA.org or email [email protected].
OTHER PWF FEBRUARY HEART MONTH AWARENESS & COMMUNITY EVENTS:
- February 10, 3-5 p.m. – Cornerstone Coffeehouse, Camp Hill is featuring CPR Demonstrations on this date. Also, a “Peyton’s Promise” white chocolate/raspberry mocha specialty drink with $1 per drink going to PWF. Special Heart Month awareness coffees sleeves will be offered all month.
- February 12, 9-11 a.m. – Public CPR/AED Certification Class at Chambers Hill United Methodist Church, Harrisburg. Registration at www. PeytonWalker.org.
- Good Brotha’s Book Café, Harrisburg & Cracked Pot Café, Mechanicsburg will feature PWF Awareness coffee sleeves all month while supplies last. PWF is also hosting other group CPR/AED demonstrations throughout the Region. Please check social media for upcoming details.
- Also, March 3 & March 5, PWF will participate at PIAA District 3 Basketball Playoffs at The Giant Center in Hershey offering CPR/AED Demos, interactive games and more. PWF will discuss the 4 Minute City initiative, as well as educate students, parents and athletes about Sudden Cardiac Arrest during halftime of the games through games, videos and more. They will donate several AEDs to area schools.
Currently, Nonprofit organizations and sports teams can request a free AED by contacting the Foundation. For more information on Peyton’s Law or on the Foundation, go to PeytonWalker.org.
ABOUT THE PEYTON WALKER FOUNDATION:
Peyton Walker was a 19-year-old Mechanicsburg native, 2012 Trinity High School graduate, and a sophomore at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who was pursuing a career as a Physician Assistant. when she suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) that took her young and vibrant life on November 2, 2013. Afterwards, her family started researching Sudden Cardiac Arrest, and found that kids are dying every day from undiagnosed heart issues. THE PEYTON WALKER FOUNDATION was established in honor of Peyton’s memory and her dreams of working in the medical profession to help and care for others. The Foundation’s mission is to increase awareness and survival rates of Sudden Cardiac Arrest through education, screening and training. Events, screenings and important updates can be found at PeytonWalker.org.
To date their award-winning and nationally recognized programs and services include: donating 250 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) including the first community SaveStation in Pa.; screening over 3,500 students with 250 children referred to physicians leading to potential life-saving medical attention for many students; advocating and successfully passing, “Peyton’s Law,” which went into effect in July 2020 and is impacting students who participate in PIAA sports; and partnering with the Cardiac Safety Research Consortium to provide heart screening data for research in the hopes of positively impacting the future of youth cardiac healthcare. CPR training is offered to every STUDENT who attends their heart screenings allowing students and their families a chance to perform hands-on CPR and gain a better understanding of what an AED is and how to use it. The Foundation also is proud to have provided over $90,000 in educational scholarships and hundreds of other FREE community CPR and AED Trainings.
The Peyton Walker Foundation, under the leadership of Walker, has worked with UPMC Pinnacle, Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia, Duke University, Penn State Children’s Hospital, WellSpan, Penn Medicine Lancaster
General Health, Geisinger Health, PIAA, Big 33, PA Scholastic Football Coaches Association and other agencies in an effort to save young lives. Advocates, parents and medical professional recognize more can be done to protect youth to reduce the occurrence of SCA in children.
FACTS ABOUT SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST (SCA):
- SCA is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. (over 600,000 annually).
- SCA is the #1 killer of student athletes in the U.S. and the leading cause of death on school campuses.
- Every hour, every day, a student dies from SCA. The majority of those deaths are attributed to detectable and treatable heart conditions that went undiagnosed due to the limited scope of standard sports physicals & well-child check-ups.
- Survival rates of SCA are less than 10%.
- Some warning symptoms that can lead to SCA include: dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath, chest pain, lightheadedness, and passing out. The first symptom of SCA is often sudden death. However, the use of AEDs and CPR increase the chances of surviving an SCA event.
(***NOTE: This device is not yet FDA approved or commercially available for sale in the U.S.)