Dakota County Heart Restart - Dakota County Minnesota

About Dakota County Heart Restart:

The goal of the Dakota County Heart Restart program is to increase the chances of survival from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) through increasing the number of Dakota County resident trained in CPR.
A key goal is to teach CPR to 10% of Dakota County residents.
Dakota County Heart Restart is sponsored by the Dakota County EMS Advisory Council, a collaboration of the eight ambulance providers, police, fire, hospitals and the public health department in Dakota County.
Dakota County Heart Restart works closely with local initiatives in the county and Take Heart™ Minnesota.

About Take Heart™ Minnesota:

Take Heart™ Minnesota is a non-profit organization working to promote the coordinated delivery of proven therapies that have the capacity to improve the survival rate of victims who suffer out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest.
Take Heart™ has established the goal of increasing the survival rate from the current level of 5 percent to more than 20 percent.
Take Heart™ Minnesota’s community-based CPR training efforts in St. Cloud and Anoka Counties have already increased SCA survival rates from 9.3 percent to 17 percent in just two years.
In addition to CPR training for the public, Take Heart™ Minnesota and Dakota County Heart Restart are promoting the use of other strategies, including:

Placing automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in residential communities and public places.
Improving the resuscitation techniques of professional rescuers.
Working with hospitals to develop clear procedures for ensuring optimal hospital treatment and post-resuscitation care for SCA survivors.

About Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA):

SCA is the leading cause of death in the U.S. More than 250,000 Americans die each year from this condition, a greater number than deaths from lung cancer, breast cancer and HIV/AIDS -- combined.
More than 4,500 cases of SCA were reported in Minnesota in 2008 (an average of 12.5 incidences per day).
Often mistakenly referred to as a heart attack, SCA is a condition in which the heart abruptly stops without warning. Most sudden cardiac arrest episodes are caused by the rapid and/or chaotic activity of the heart known as ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF). These are abnormalities of the heart’s electrical conduction system.
Cardiac arrest is reversible in most victims if it’s treated within minutes, but the only effective treatment is CPR and the delivery of an electrical shock, with a defibrillator such as an AED.