Source: Greeley Tribune, Colo.迷利倉Oct. 02--Near Christmas time in 2007, Greeley resident Beverly Peratino was on a boat to Catalina Island off the coast of California with her husband, who surprised her with the trip. On the way there, his heart suddenly failed, and though Peratino and another passenger did CPR and doctors at the closest hospital did everything they could, her husband died.Shocked, Peratino set out to do something to honor his death. She offered to provide AED (automated external defibrillator) machines, but the hospital declined her offer, preferring to deal with equipment purchases internally.This year, Peratino got the chance to make the donation she offered back in 2007, but in Greeley."I can do it for my own city now, and do it in memory of my husband," Peratino said Tuesday afternoon.She was among a group of residents gathered at North Colorado Medical Center for a presentation celebrating Greeley's recent designation as a Heart Safe Community. Greeley is only the second city in Colorado to achieve this status, after Telluride.Heart Safe Communities have met guidelines set by the American Heart Association, which are aimed at saving the lives of people who experience sudden cardiac arrest, when the heartbeat suddenly stops. The guidelines are: early access to emergency care, that bystanders know to call 911; early CPR, the more people who know CPR the more likely it is that a sudden cardiac arrest victim will live; early defibrillation with AED, to restore the heart's rhythm with electric shock; and early advanced life support, more expert care delivered by EMT-paramedics and EMT-intermediates.Greeley's effort, which began last year, was a large-scale project自存倉involving the fire department, city council, NCMC paramedic services, the NCMC foundation, Greeley-Evans School District 6, Hensel Phelps and numerous donors, among others. The effort continues, though Greeley has already achieved Heart Safe status. The paramedics, for instance, will keep up the machines; and the NCMC Foundation Board is talking to more business owners who want to install an AED.Some of the community donations were outright AED donations, like the three devices Peratino gave. Other individuals and companies made monetary donations, which totaled more than $100,000. The Greeley area has 132 AEDs, 39 of which are in schools. Every school has one.In addition to the new prevalence of AEDs, the city has made efforts to increase CPR training. People who know CPR are more likely to step in to help save someone. Twenty-one free CPR classes brought out 323 people."I think it will have a huge impact," said Dawn Olson, director of business development for the CardioVascular Institute at NCMC. "The more AEDs out there in our community and the more people know what's happening, the more lives we save."Greeley Mayor Tom Norton, one of the city officials who attended Tuesday's presentation, said he was glad to see the city meet the goal it had set, especially considering the number of varied groups responsible for working together to achieve Heart Safe status."I think what it means is to show that Greeley is progressing, and able to bring diverse groups together for the health of the city," Norton said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.) Visit the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.) at .greeleytribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage
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