The D.C. government launched a program to help pay for automated external defibrillators for locations like apartment buildings and houses of worship, especially in African American neighborhoods.
Sgt. Terrika Hooks, a paramedic with D.C. Fire and EMS, is part of the team helping raise awareness about CPR and having AEDs in more places.
She’s trained to save lives, but when her father suffered a heart attack, she wasn’t there, and nobody nearby knew CPR or had access to an AED. She and her mother, Tracey Hooks, believe her father would still be with them if there had been an AED nearby or if someone knew CPR.
“Well, he could have had a second chance,” Tracey Hooks said.
D.C. is offering a $400 rebate to businesses and organizations that install an AED and register it with the District. AEDs typically cost between $800 and $1,400.
The focus will be getting more AEDs east of the Anacostia River, where there’s a huge disparity not only in AEDs but also survival rates when someone goes into cardiac arrest. The PulsePoint app, which shows the locations of registered AEDs, illustrates the lack of devices east of the river.
“And remarkably, still, over the last several years, the survival rate from cardiac arrest among African Americans is less than half that of whites,” D.C. Fire and EMS Medical Director Dr. Robert Holman said. “And some of this gap in AED use is simply due to access.”
Any AED purchased in the past 90 days also qualifies for the rebate.
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