Police department drove AED adoption for Atlanta Public Schools
BOTHELL, Wash., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Cardiac Science Corporation (NASDAQ:CSCX), a global leader in automated external defibrillator (AED) and diagnostic cardiac monitoring devices, announced the expansion of the largest AED deployment of any school system in Georgia with 195 Powerheart AED G3 devices from Cardiac Science.
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The Atlanta Public School AED program started with 100 Cardiac Science AEDs in 2007 and has grown; now protecting 102 locations with more than 1,100 trained responders. "In Atlanta Public Schools, we not only want to ensure every student learns at high levels; we want to ensure every student is safe," said Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall.
"The district-wide deployment of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and trained on-staff first responders is a meaningful component of our emergency preparedness," Hall added. "Parents can take comfort in this security measure, driven by our own on-the-ground team of security professionals with help from leading health care experts in the community."
Often a school AED program is led by school nurses or the athletic department. In this case, the Fulton County Public Schools' Police Department and its Deputy Chief Marquenta A. Sands worked with distributor School Health Corporation and Cardiac Science Corporation to drive AED adoption.
Dave Marver, Cardiac Science president and chief executive officer, said, "We've become very good at helping major school systems with their AED programs. In addition to Atlanta, we help protect young people at large school systems in Houston, Miami, Tampa, San Diego, and throughout Ohio, New York, and Texas, which have state mandates requiring AED placement in schools. We're pleased to have partnered with School Health, Children's Healthcare, and the AHA to make this happen."
Chief Sands explained, "We need to protect our young people - and sudden cardiac arrest is a real threat to their safety. According to the American Heart Association, approximately 7,000 young people will die a sudden cardiac death this year alone. With our AED school program, we're hoping to lower that tragic toll."
Marver added, "Relatively few metropolitan public school systems in the US have formal AED programs, despite the growing number of legal mandates that protect schoolchildren against sudden cardiac arrest. We've chosen to focus on the school AED market with the intent that children everywhere would have the level of safety now provided in Atlanta."
"My deep thanks to Cardiac Science, Children's Healthcare, School Health, and the AHA for their support. We far exceeded the acceptance, visibility, and scope of our initial goals," said Chief Sands. "Ten percent of the staff is trained at each school and several schools voluntarily committed to having 100 percent of the staff trained."
Atlanta Public Schools also created a dedicated training facility available to people in the Atlanta community to learn CPR and AED use at no charge. And the school AED program is compliant with civil immunity requirements afforded by Georgia's Good Samaritan law for AED use.
About Cardiac Science
Cardiac Science develops, manufactures, and markets a family of advanced diagnostic and therapeutic cardiology devices and systems, including automated external defibrillators (AED), electrocardiograph devices (ECG/EKG), cardiac stress treadmill and systems, Holter monitoring systems, hospital defibrillators, cardiac rehabilitation telemetry systems, and cardiology data management systems (informatics) that connect with hospital information (HIS), electronic medical record (EMR), and other information systems. The company sells a variety of related products and consumables and provides a portfolio of training, maintenance, and support services. Cardiac Science, the successor to the cardiac businesses that established the trusted Burdick , HeartCentrix , Powerheart , and Quinton brands, is headquartered in Bothell, Washington. With customers in more than 100 countries worldwide, the company has operations in North America, Europe, and Asia. For information, call 425.402.2000 or visit http://www.cardiacscience.com/.
For updates and information on worldwide defibrillation and cardiac monitoring, find us on the Cardiac Science blog at http://www.cardiacscience.com/blog, Twitter at http://twitter.com/cardiacscience, Facebook at http://budurl.com/CSonFB, YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/CardiacScience.
About School Health Corporation
Headquartered in Hanover Park, Ill., School Health Corporation is the leading provider of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for schools. Its comprehensive turnkey AED solutions encompass not only equipment, but also site assessments, staff and student training, emergency response planning, and ongoing quality monitoring. Dedicated to saving lives, School Health works closely with its customers to help ensure the availability of optimal care in a cardiac emergency. For more information, call 866.323.5465 or visit http://www.schoolhealth.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, those relating to the ability of Cardiac Science Corporation to sell AED products into schools and the resulting impact on operating results. These are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may vary significantly from the results expressed or implied in such statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such varying results and other risks are more fully described in Cardiac Science Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, as updated by subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Cardiac Science Corporation undertakes no duty or obligation to update the information provided herein.
For more information,
Company Contact: Investor Contact: Media Contact:
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Mike Matysik Matt Clawson Christopher Gale
Cardiac Science Corporation Allen & Caron EVC Group Inc.
Senior Vice President and CFO 949.474.4300 646.201.5431
425.402.2009 203.570.4681
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