FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Connecticut Department of Public Health
September 25, 2008 Contact: William Gerrish
(860) 509-7270
New Milford Earns HEARTSafe Community Designation
HARTFORD –– At a reception and press conference at Town Hall on the New Milford Green, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH), in collaboration with the American Heart Association, announced that New Milford has been designated a HEARTSafe Community.
“The HEARTSafe Communities program is designed to promote and recognize the efforts of local municipalities to provide improved cardiac response and care to its residents,” said DPH Commissioner J. Robert Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A. “New Milford has demonstrated its commitment toward ensuring that its residents and visitors receive the early lifesaving response proven to increase the chances of survival for heart attack victims.”
According to New Milford Mayor Patricia Murphy, the HEARTSafe designation is a testimony to the efforts of many health and public safety teams to ensure that the town remains a safe and responsive place for people to live and work. “We have assembled the resources in the community through the New Milford Health Department, Regional EMS and New Milford Hospital to support CPR training, education, placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and community awareness building to improve safety and well-being,” Mayor Murphy explained.
DPH began the HEARTSafe Communities program to foster community environments that improve the survival odds for people suffering sudden cardiac events, such as cardiac arrests or heart attacks. The key to the program has been dubbed by the American Heart Association as the Chain of Survival. The Chain of Survival has four vital links: early access to emergency care; early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); early defibrillation and early advanced care.
A HEARTSafe Community promotes and supports: CPR training in the community; public access to defibrillation through strategic placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for use by public safety professionals and other trained community members; and early advanced care.
New Milford met the program requirements for public placement of AEDs, trained community residents, and equipped, staffed and trained emergency responders. In addition, New Milford is planning on continuing to provide community CPR training programs and expand the availability of AEDs in public locations.
Municipalities wishing to obtain designation as a HEARTSafe Community can download an application from the State Department of Public Health website at: portal.ct.gov/dph or contact Gary St. Amand, Health Program Associate, Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program at gary.stamand@ct.gov or 860-509-7581.
The Connecticut Department of Public Health is the state’s leader in public health policy and advocacy with a mission to protect and promote the health and safety of the people of our state. To contact the department, please visit its website at portal.ct.gov/dph or call (860) 509-7270.
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