Take Heart Anoka County takes new approach to save lives

COON RAPIDS, MN

Minn. — (March 19, 2008) — Take Heart Anoka County is a coalition of doctors, nurses, paramedics, health educators, and community leaders. They are joining together in an effort to dramatically increase the likelihood that someone who suffers sudden cardiac arrest will survive. It’s estimated that 350,000 people in the U.S. die from sudden cardiac arrest every year.

“Sudden cardiac arrest, sometimes known as a massive heart attack, is a top killer that can strike anyone, anywhere, without warning. Only one in 20 people survives. We think we can increase those odds to one in three,” said Charles Lick, M.D., co-founder of Take Heart Anoka County. Dr. Lick is also an emergency medicine specialist and medical director of Allina Medical Transportation.

Take Heart Anoka County received its initial funding from the Mercy & Unity Hospitals’ Foundation. “The Foundation is very pleased to play a part in such an important community activity. The entire Foundation Board saw this as an opportunity to save lives in the communities we serve,” said Julie Nelson Gotham, executive director of the Mercy & Unity Hospitals’ Foundation.

Take Heart Anoka County plans to increase the number of people trained in CPR, increase the number of publicly available automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, and train people to use them. Doctors, hospital staff and paramedics will be trained on advanced resuscitation techniques, including use of special resuscitation devices and rapid cooling of people who have suffered cardiac arrest to prevent brain damage.

Individuals, organizations and businesses that want more information can call Susan Nygaard at 612-262-4946 or look at the website: www.takeheartanoka.org.

“Take Heart America takes approaches that individually have been shown to increase a person’s chances of surviving sudden cardiac arrest and combines them in the hope of dramatically increasing the number of people who survive,” said Keith Lurie, M.D., co-founder of Take Heart America.

Three other communities have signed on for Take Heart America: Austin-Travis County, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; and St. Cloud, Minn. After an evaluation period, the program plans to apply its findings on a national basis.

Mercy and Unity Hospitals, located in Coon Rapids and Fridley, are non-profit hospitals that serve the northern Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Mercy and Unity respond to a wide range of health care needs. The hospitals are part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a not-for-profit family of hospitals, clinics and other care services dedicated to meeting the lifelong health care needs of communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. More information is at www.allina.com.