Microboard Partners with In A Heartbeat in AED Donations

Seymour AED Donation

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Microboard Partners with “In A Heartbeat” Donating Defibrillators to Schools in Connecticut.

Did you know that in 2015 approximately 357,000 people experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the US alone? Cardiac arrest is a serious public health issue with widespread incidence that has a severe impact on human health and well-being. The survival rate of an OHCA is very slim with a mortality rate of 70-90%. Victims of an OHCA that receive a shock from an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), show a 38% chance of survival which is a significant increase over CPR with only 9%. In light of this, Microboard partnered with In A Heartbeat to donate AEDs to schools throughout Connecticut.

In A Heartbeat is a non-profit organization, founded in 2015 to raise money and awareness for sudden cardiac arrest and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). Their mission is to spread the word about the importance of CPR and AEDs, as well as to provide AEDs and emergency training to schools and organizations. Founder Mike Papale, experienced a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) at 17 years old. With no AED on site, luckily, after 8 minutes of CPR, his heartbeat returned. Doctors said that Mike’s chances of survival were one in a million. After his recovery, Mike felt as though he needed to do more to help others. Feeling blessed and fortunate to survive, he decided to start a nonprofit organization with one goal in mind: to save lives.

As partners, we are vigorously working to provide the necessary tools that prevent death from SCA and HCM. Our main tool, an AED by Defibtech, delivers electrical shock to the heart in order to restore it to its natural rhythm. With this sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, medical device, 1,700 lives are saved per year in the United States alone. AEDs are portable and can be used by trained non-medical people, making it possible for more people to respond to a medical emergency where defibrillation is required. They are safe to use and come with precisely built-in “safeguards” that have been designed so that non-medical responders can’t shock someone who does not need to be shocked.

Microboard and In A Heartbeat has been and will continue to donate AEDs to both public and private schools throughout our community. Our mission however, does not end here. We believe that all schools should have an AED within three minutes of every location to ensure the highest possible chances of survival. In A Heartbeat’s mission closely aligns with Microboard’s values focusing on life-saving and life-changing products. Together we hope to provide reliability and safety to our community. Thank you to In A Heartbeat for their inspiring work and for choosing to be brilliant together!