Sponsored by: 
Fairfax, Va. – During Fire-Rescue Med 2023, the IAFC EMS Section, the IAFC and the PulsePoint Foundation honored two fire departments with annual Heart Safe Community Awards. The recipients were recognized for their success in improving cardiac arrest survival rates in their communities by developing innovative training, pre-planning, and enhanced community training.
The Naperville (Illinois) Fire Department received top honors in the large community category (population of 100,000+) and the Bainbridge Island (WA) Fire Department was recognized with the Heart Safe Community Award in the small/mid-sized community category (population under 100,000).
The award, sponsored by the PulsePoint Foundation, recognizes fire-based EMS agencies with creative approaches to improving the quality of out-of-hospital treatment of heart disease, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), and resuscitation efforts. Heart Safe Community Awards recognize demonstrated approaches to improving therapies for patients experiencing cardiac-related emergencies or sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) through access to emergency care, citizen alerting and bystander CPR, high-performance team-based resuscitation, and thorough data collection and quality review processes.
“We are honored and privileged to annually review Heart Safe Community Award nominations from across the nation,” said Chief Mike McEvoy, chair of the IAFC EMS Section. “The award recipients demonstrate that fire department investments in training, response, teamwork and citizen alerting can lead to substantial improvements in survival from sudden cardiac arrest in their communities. Like fire prevention efforts, every dollar spent on making a community Heart Safe saves lives.”
The Heart Safe Community Awards reflect impressive efforts of fire-based EMS departments of all sizes. The impressive scope of training, citizen alerting, public AED, and bleeding control kits, high-performance and dispatcher assisted CPR, and quality improvement initiatives by this year’s recipients is saving more lives in their communities.
