Cardiology (see more articles like this)

And on Tuesday, October 23, 2007, Florida Hospital’s 1908 Society presented a symbolic $100,000 check to representatives of Project ADAM Florida, a Florida Hospital program that aims to ensure all schools in Florida have a public access defibrillation (PAD) program in place.

“The 1908 Society is Florida Hospital’s employee giving program that celebrates the hospital’s 100 years of service to the community, which will be marked in October of 2008.  Employees generously give to causes such as Project ADAM because they want to impact lives in our community, even outside the walls of the hospital,” said Julie Crawford, Florida Hospital 1908 Society coordinator.

Each year, approximately 340,000 people die from sudden cardiac arrest.  However, according to the American Heart Association, if defibrillation can be performed within the first 1-3 minutes, there is a 70-80 percent chance of survival.

That is one of the reasons that Florida Hospital implemented Project ADAM Florida in 2005.  Through Project ADAM Florida, Florida Hospital helps make sure schools throughout the state are safe for kids, employees, and visitors, by assisting them with a PAD program.  This includes aiding schools in acquiring automated external defibrillators (AEDs) with a trained first response team, training employees to recognize the signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest, and encouraging schools to have a practiced emergency response plan in place.

“Having public access defibrillation programs in schools can potentially save lives by giving them access to defibrillation even before emergency crews are able to arrive,” said Bronwen Ramos, coordinator for Project ADAM Florida. “You do not have to wait for the ambulance to arrive to save a life.”

An AED is a small, portable device that can send an electric shock through the chest wall to the heart and restore a patient’s heart rhythm to normal levels before emergency crews arrive. These devices can potentially save the lives of thousands of students who are struck suddenly with cardiac arrest every year.

Project ADAM (Automatic Defibrillators in Adam's Memory) is a national program geared toward saving the lives of school students. Started in 1999, the project arose from a series of sudden deaths among high school students in southeastern Wisconsin, including Adam Lemel who collapsed and died during a basketball game.