Oregonian article

Beaverton Valley Times article

As part of a county-wide AED deployment project, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue presented the Beaverton Police Department with 15 AEDs to be placed in patrol vehicles with the goal of increasing cardiac survival rates in the Beaverton area. A cardiac arrest is likely to be fatal if there is no intervention within 4-6 minutes. For every passing minute that a cardiac patient goes without defibrillation, their chance of survival decreases by 10%.

"For years, TVF&R has partnered with law enforcement to increase the number of police units that can respond to a cardiac call to administer CPR and defibrillation with an AED before firefighter paramedics arrive. Use of a defibrillator along with CPR can improve a cardiac patient's likelihood to survive by 75 percent," said TVF&R Chief Michael Duyck. "This partnership has resulted in numerous cardiac saves and this donation of AEDs will result in many more."

According to Washington County Consolidated Communications Agency (9-1-1) data, law enforcement officers from Washington County were dispatched to administer CPR and/or a shock with an AED on 719 cardiac-related 9-1-1 calls in 2013.

"During a cardiac emergency, police access to an AED is critical for them to serve and protect," said Beaverton Police Chief Geoff Spalding. "The faster a law enforcement officer can respond with an AED, the better the patient's chances are for survival. I'm pleased to partner with TVF&R to equip and train our officers to make a difference in cardiac arrest outcomes in Beaverton."

Last September, TVF&R upgraded its fleet of 12-lead EKG heart monitors on all emergency response units and portable AEDs from District facilities and staff vehicles. TVF&R's goal is to position the surplus public AEDs in optimum locations within its service area. Based upon TVF&R cardiac incident data, the following law enforcement departments will receive surplus AEDs for placement in their patrol units: Beaverton, King City, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin, West Linn, Wilsonville, and Clackamas County.

With the donation of these AEDs and associated training for police officers, TVF&R expects to increase survival odds for the more than 200 sudden cardiac arrests that occur in TVF&R's service area each year. Over the past several years TVF&R's survival rates for cardiac arrest have ranged between 10 and 22%, surpassing the national average.