Heart Safe School designation

If a sudden cardiac arrest would happen at your local school, would staff know how to properly respond? Roughly 20 percent of a community is on school grounds on any given day. It is extremely important that school staff have a plan in place so that they can step in and help in the event of a cardiac emergency because during a sudden cardiac arrest, every second counts. Project ADAM will work with your school to put together a written action plan, ensure that staff are trained and ready to act in a cardiac emergency, confirm that AEDs are available and accessible, and conduct regular AED drills. Once a school has taken all of the necessary steps to safeguard their campus, Project ADAM will designate them as Heart Safe.

What does it mean to be Heart Safe?

Your school is prepared, trained and empowered to take action during a sudden cardiac emergency and has partnered with Project ADAM to:

• Identify a CPR/AED trained emergency response team
• Create an emergency response plan that activates the team during a sudden cardiac emergency
• Run regular cardiac emergency response drills to test and improve your plan 

Take the first step towards making your own school Heart Safe and contact the Project ADAM team.

When Hunter’s heart stopped beating, the clock started ticking

When someone goes into sudden cardiac arrest and stops breathing, every single second is crucial. Every tick of the clock can mean the difference between a full recovery, brain damage or even death. Follow the timeline of 17 year old Hunter's sudden cardiac arrest at Franklin High School and learn why time is of the essence.

Seven minutes. 420 seconds from the time Hunter lost consciousness to the time the first responders arrived on the scene — a remarkable response to a sudden cardiac emergency.