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| Ed Mitchell Blount County Mayor 341 Court Street Maryville, TN 37804-5906 Telephone 865-273-5700 Fax 865-273-5705 |
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PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
September 20, 2017
Re: Blount County
In continuation of our program of providing first responders with needed equipment for the field, Alcoa Fire Department has received 3 new Lifepak Automated External Defibrillators, also known as AED’s, from Blount County Government.
Mayor Mitchell says, “Putting these AEDs in the hands of emergency response personnel with Alcoa Fire Department means that the first responders arriving on any cardiac emergency situation in the City of Alcoa have the ability to provide life-saving medical treatment. We simply want emergency personnel to have the best and most advanced equipment for the safety of our citizens.”
The money used to purchase the AED’s was provided by the Blount County Emergency Medical Services Board, which oversees allocated funds to give back to First Responder agencies operating in Blount County. The allocated funds assist First Responder agencies in acquiring live-saving equipment that is too costly to purchase through annual budgeting.
Alcoa Fire Chief Roger Robinson says, “The new AED’s will be placed on all front line, first out apparatus, allowing the newest technologies in heart defibrillation to arrive at a patient’s side early in a cardiac event. A feature of the new AED’s is that they use the same defibrillation pads as the heart monitors carried by AMR ambulances. This means when fire department EMT’s apply the AED pads to a patient, they can simply unplug from the AED and plug directly into the heart monitor, thus eliminating removal of one set of AED pads and placing another. This will provide better continuity of care for patients and allow medical Personnel to complete other tasks quicker.”
Press Release questions can be directed to the Blount County Mayor’s office at 273-5700.