Carver County maps lifesavers to keep them near and dear to hearts

With 160,000 people dying in the United States each year from sudden cardiac arrest outside of hospitals, Carver County has launched a program to put defibrillators -- devices that can revive many heart attack patients -- just a heartbeat away.

Carver has set out to map the precise location of every defibrillator in the county, at sites ranging from schools to fitness centers, so emergency workers can get them to heart attack victims as quickly as possible.

Thus far, the county has identified 137 defibrillators at 87 sites. The locations are available to anyone who calls 911 dispatchers, be they rescue personnel or average citizens. The locations, denoted by a small heart, are also listed on a map on the county's website.

"We tried to capture every one that's out there to get them on the database," said Carver County Administrator Dave Hemze. "That was a fundamental issue. All of these various groups have them, but no one had coordinated a broad look at where they are."

The program, called "Saving Hearts in Our Communities," recently received an award for innovation from the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute.

It was started by the Carver County Health Department, law enforcement officials and rescue workers as a way to put automated external defibrillators (AED) in every squad car, fire vehicle and public building in the county as soon as possible, and make them readily available to the public.

The goal is to make the devices, which shock the heart back into a normal rhythm, as common as fire extinguishers and just as easy to operate.

More refined, more effective

Authorities expect the program will become even more effective as the software is refined so that it can pinpoint the wall in the room at the address each device is located.

"We have saved lives," Carver County Sheriff Bud Olson said. "We have brought people back who under normal circumstances would not have lived."

Among them was Harry Strandberg, who suffered a heart attack in 2005 on his way to church. It took a Carver County Sheriff's Department deputy only three minutes to arrive with a portable defibrillator that saved his life.

"It felt like a year, even though it was only a few minutes," said Dianne Strandberg, who was riding in the car with her husband when his heart problems occurred in Chanhassen.

"What can I say? It saved his life," Dianne Strandberg said this week. "The more defibrillators out there, the better."

Olson said the life-saving capabilities of defibrillators and their growing ease of use -- some models can talk users through the process -- make it likely that AEDs will become more common.

"That is the goal," said Carolyn Schmidt of the Health Department. But until they are that universally available, "we wanted to do something unique to Carver County" to make it easier to share them in case of a cardiac emergency, Schmidt said. "The 911 dispatcher would be able to direct the caller to the nearest AED location."

Training questions

Although defibrillators are becoming increasingly simple to use, many think that users should be trained if possible.

Schmidt said Carver County is positioned well. A recent county survey estimated that about 25 percent of the population has AED training already.

To boost that number, the county trained 400 people how to operate the AEDs this past winter.

"It's extremely challenging ... but we decided we needed to address AEDs and AED access," Schmidt said. "We're striving to be one of the healthiest counties in the country."