Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue just announced a cutting-edge program to save lives. They’re the first fire department in the world to start taking home Automated External Defibrillators on their days off.
TVF&R already has one of the highest survival rates in the country for patients who have cardiac arrest or heart attacks.
Now, Philips, the maker of small, portable AED devices, or defibrillators, have donated 375 of them to TVF&R as part of a study to get those "save" rates up even higher.
So far, 200 of their firefighters have volunteered to put the AEDs in their personal cars to use when they’re off duty. More can volunteer throughout the program.
The program will work using the Pulse Point app on their smart phones. When a 911 call comes in, and if the off-duty firefighter is nearby, they'll get an alert someone's in trouble and needs CPR.