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Daviess County selected as a HeartSafe Community

Has met criteria to better respond to cardiac arrests

FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 8, 2015) — The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Department for Public Health (DPH) announced today that Daviess County is the most recent Kentucky county to earn the designation of HeartSafe Community, an honor set aside for communities that have met criteria to better respond to cardiac arrests.

heartsafesignDaviess County joins Ashland-Boyd, Bullitt, Clark, Jefferson/Louisville Metro, Jessamine, Marion, Marshall, McCracken, Montgomery, Oldham, Shelby and Warren counties on the growing list of communities working to be healthier and safer places to live.

The HeartSafe Community program was launched in the summer of 2011 by the DPH Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program to help communities improve the chances that anyone suffering a sudden cardiac arrest will have the best possible chance for survival.

HeartSafe communities meet a combination of factors viewed as preferable in a community’s ability to recognize and respond to cardiac arrest. These factors include:

  • Early access to emergency care in which bystanders recognize the symptoms of cardiac arrest and immediately call 911.
  • Early CPR, a simple, easily learned emergency procedure used when someone’s breathing and heartbeat suddenly stop.
  • Early defibrillation, the delivery of electric shock to restore the heart’s normal rhythm.
  • Early advanced care delivered via response vehicle staffed by advanced life support personnel.

More than 1,800 Kentucky residents die each year due to cardiac arrest that occurs outside of the hospital, away from advanced medical assistance. Typically, these events happen in the presence of a family member or friend.