More than a hundred neighbors and community leaders--including the mayor of Indianapolis, Bart Peterson-celebrated the launch of the first Neighborhood Heart Watch program in the country. Residents of the Wynnedale village in Indianapolis gathered in the Children's Better Health Fitness Farm Scholarship Hall, also located in Wynnedale, to learn about the new lifesaving initiative."We are blessed to live in a time when medical technology advances at the rate that it does in this country and in this world today," said Mayor Peterson, who knows firsthand the wrenching experience of nearly losing his father to cardiac arrest. "But our technology is only as good as our ability to apply it in a practical way to save people's lives. We have the automated external defibrillator. The key is to get the device where it can actually save lives--where the people are. Neighborhood Heart Watch is a wonderful program."The creative mind behind the neighborhood heart program, Dr. Douglas Zipes, outlined the concept to residents, explaining the simplicity of its execution, the importance of greater access to automated defibrillators, and the amazing statistics of how many lives could be saved."If you look at your neighbor, one of the two of you will die of cardiovascular disease," Dr. Zipes said, who stressed the fact that heart disease is the number-one cause of death in the world. "Half of heart-related deaths are due to a heart rhythm problem where your heartbeat gets so fast that your heart can no longer pump blood to the brain and you die."We know the cure for sudden cardiac arrest. And it's right here in that box. It's a shock delivered to the heart through the chest wall and restores life instantly. It's that dramatic."Why the stress on the Neighborhood Heart Watch? Seventy-five to 80 percent of sudden cardiac arrests occur in the home. Placing AEDs in public places only treats the tip of the iceberg--hence this new concept and the lifesaving therapy that it may provide."Wynnedale residents listened intently to the speakers, then visited the location of the AED on hand for their use in case of a sudden cardiac emergency in the neighborhood.The following day, an AED was placed in the gate house of Wynnedale's neighboring Holcomb Estates, where all residents of Spring Hill will possess the code for the lock box containing the AED should a cardiac arrest occur. Other surrounding communities have expressed interest in joining the Neighborhood Heart Watch program.Indianapolis serves as a national model that could be initiated in your neighborhood. For more information about the initiative and sources of funding to acquire an AED and launch a Neighborhood Heart Watch program in your area, visit the Children's Better Health Institute at www.cbhi.org or www.saturdayeveningpost.com, or call 317-634-1100 and ask for Patrick Perry.
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