Efforts to improve the “cardiac chain of survival” in West Hartford have resulted in the town’s designation as a HEARTSafe Community based on criteria established by the American Heart Association.
“What a HEARTSafe Community means is they set a standard,” said Firefighter/Paramedic Rocco Laudato, the West Hartford Fire Department’s EMS officer. Criteria for becoming a HEARTSafe Community includes training citizens in town to perform CPR, increasing the number of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) that are publicly accessible, and following aggressive resuscitation protocols for first responders and at area hospitals.
“All three things should increase the chance of surviving cardiac arrest,” Laudato said.