A Year in Review

December 12, 2023

January

On January 2, 2023, the world watched Damar Hamlin collapse and suffer sudden cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. It was a traumatic event and stressful week as we waited to hear whether or not he was going to survive. Thankfully he not only survived, but has thrived and become the world’s biggest advocate for CPR, AEDS, and the need for emergency action plans. Our mission has always been to raise awareness and save more lives from sudden cardiac arrest and this event heightened the need for even more awareness. Since that day, we have been busy. We have been busy working hard to fulfil our mission and we are excited to tell you about it in our “year in review!” 

We continued to strengthen partnerships with key stakeholders that share our mission of helping to save lives. We are working diligently with The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, Parent Heart Watch, The Citizen CPR Foundation, and the Korey Stringer Institute. Each organization has a unique perspective on how to fulfill this mission. The HBO show Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel interviewed Dr. Doug Casa from the Korey Stringer Institute about sudden cardiac arrest in young athletes. Dr. Casa demonstrated how easy it is to use an AED with one of our Lifeline AED Trainers.  

In January we attended the annual Heart to Heart Conference hosted by Parent Heart Watch. This was a great opportunity to collaborate with nonprofits throughout the country that are donating AEDS, providing heart screenings, training people in CPR/AED, and raising the overall awareness of sudden cardiac arrest.  

We sponsored the RACE CARS TRIAL which stands for Randomized Cluster Evaluation of Cardiac Arrest Systems being done by the Duke Clinical Research Institute. We provided 10 AEDS to Warren County, North Carolina. This seven-year trial is being funded by The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and will test whether a set of customized community-based interventions can improve survival in out of hospital sudden cardiac arrest. 

February

As always, we celebrated American Heart Month in a big way. Our team supported the Go Red for Women Campaign. We also sponsored the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association’s (HCMA) Drill Dr. Heart Challenge. This challenge encouraged participants to film cardiac arrest emergency response plans for their school, workplace, house of worship, community organization, or team. Winners of the challenge received a free AED! 

March

March was an exciting month as we went to Washington to support the Access to AEDs Act. The introduction of this federal bill put a spotlight on making sure that students and athletes across the country have access to AEDs at school. If it passes, this will help schools be prepared for a sudden cardiac arrest emergency.  

April

In April, our new Automated Chest Compression Device, the ARM XR was first shown at the FDIC Trade Show in Indianapolis. We're excited that it will soon be available across the U.S. 

May

This past year we brought our community engagement international! We partnered with Sacred Heart University to place 8 AEDS in Dingle, Ireland. This is part of a Heart Safe project that will also educate members of their community on cardiac arrest, how to perform CPR, and how to use an AED.  

June

We partnered with Henry Schein and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society (PFATS) on a PFATS Tackles SCA Initiative. We worked together to donate 32 AEDs to schools and athletic programs in need. We want to see an AED on EVERY sideline.  

July

This past summer we inked an official partnership with USA Football and OneBeat Medical that helps youth leagues with AEDs and sudden cardiac arrest education. This is a huge step in getting youth football organizations equipped and ready to respond to a sudden cardiac arrest emergency.  

October

October was Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month and we did our best to do just that: spread awareness! We welcomed Matt Mangine from the Matthew Mangine Jr. Foundation to give an impactful speech at our company picnic about the tragedy of losing his son to sudden cardiac arrest and the amazing work his foundation is doing in his memory. It was inspiring for our team to understand the importance of the work we do each and every day.  

We also partnered with Greg Olsen, The HEARTest Yard, and Living for Zachary to donate 3 AEDS to organizations in the greater Dallas area. Fox Sports aired a segment about the donations during the Rams vs. Cowboys game on October 29.  

Looking Ahead to 2024

In addition to all of this work, we hosted monthly webinars with important information about sudden cardiac arrest, we released educational videos about AEDs, and we attended trade shows across the world. With the survival rate of sudden cardiac arrest being less than 10%, our mission is a daunting one, but we will not stop working to help save more lives from sudden cardiac arrest. This past year was a big one, and we cannot wait to continue working in 2024! 

To learn more about Defibtech and to join us on our quest to save lives from sudden cardiac arrest, visit www.Defibtech.com.