Williams High School receives defibrillator from Texas Health Resources

Texas Health Resources launched “Gift from the Heart,” a community benefit program designed to save young lives by providing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to 51 low-income schools throughout 20 North Texas school districts.

Texas Health, one of the largest faith-based, non-profit health care systems in the United States, is donating the AEDs to secondary schools located near its hospitals, which span eight counties including Collin, Dallas and Tarrant. The donation comes as the company unites its longstanding community hospitals n Presbyterian, Harris Methodist and Arlington Memorial n under Texas Health Resources, the system brand.

“It comes down to following our mission of benefitting and improving the health of the communities we serve,” said Philip Wentworth, president of the Presbyterian Hospital of Plano. “We are helping the community in having the best technology available in the event of an emergency.”

More than 250,000 Americans of all ages die each year from sudden cardiac arrest and nearly 7,000 of them are children and teens. An AED, about the size of a lunchbox, is a device that shocks the heart to restore a normal heartbeat. It is the single most effective treatment for restarting the heart after sudden cardiac arrest.

“Gift from the Heart” is one of the many community benefit initiatives undertaken by Texas Health, which spends more than $450 million annually n the equivalent of more than $1 million a day n in charity care and community benefit.

The AED donation is also part of a new branding strategy to unite the hospitals under the Texas Health Resources under a common name: Texas Health. Starting Jan. 1, 2009, Texas Health’s hospitals will become Texas Health Presbyterian, Texas Health Harris Methodist and Texas Health Arlington Memorial.

According to the American Heart Association, AEDs are designed to allow people with no medical training to respond to cardiac emergencies by giving live-saving shock to restore the heart to its normal rhythm. The machines, which can be used for both children and adults, give detailed instructions and analyze the heart rate to determine whether a shock is needed. If a shock is advised, the AED automatically charges the machine and either administers a shock automatically or instructs the user through voice commands to press the shock button.

A person’s chance of survival decreases up to 10 percent for every minute that passes between cardiac arrest and defibrillation. Schools are required by law to have an AED available at all University Interscholastic League (UIL) athletic practices and competitions. The presence of additional, strategically placed AEDs can reduce the time it takes to retrieve the life-saving devices.

“Schools were a good location for the primary round [of defibrillator distribution] because there are so many people coming and going around the campuses,” Wentworth said. “It makes perfect sense.”

After the first round of defibrillator distribution, the hospital will look and identify other areas that would benefit from having an AED in the proximity, Wentworth said.

Texas Health’s goal is to deliver AEDs to all of the designated campuses during the fall semester and to train staff members to operate the devices. This staff education is designed to help people at each school feel confident about responding to an emergency.

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