Windham Working to Become HeartSafe Community

The Windham Fire Department announced on Monday that an initiative is being rolled out to get the town on track toward becoming a HeartSafe community.

The goal of the New Hampshire HeartSafe Communities program, which is a coordinated effort of several organizations, is to increase survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

According to WFD Lieutenant/Paramedic Jay Moltenbrey, 60 percent of those who go into cardiac arrest where the heart stops outside of the hospital go into one of the rhythms that an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED, can correct.

One of the steps for a community to become HeartSafe involves the placement of AED's in public or private areas where people congregate.

"Almost every building here in town including the Searles Chapel has an AED in it," said Fire Chief Tom McPherson. Griffin Park will soon receive a device along with a portable device set to be placed at the Town Beach.

Qualification as a HeartSafe community is based on population.

Points, known as "heartbeats" are earned for completing various activities that further the goal of saving lives from cardiac arrest.

Moltenbrey said that those efforts include specific trainings such as how to use AED's and how to administer CPR.

McPherson added that Windham falls into the 10,001 to 20,000 population category, which requires 280 minimum heartbeats.

He explained that Windham has probably met the HeartSafe designation before, but just never really applied for it.

Towns designated as HeartSafe communities are awarded road signs to be placed at the gateways of the town and certificates to be placed in public buildings.

Despite Windham's new AED purchases making sure that machines are in every public building or area, Moltenbrey said that the fire department recently became aware of a few more devices in town.

He asked businesses with AED's to let the department know. There is no licensing requirement, but a form needs to be filled out so that medical personnel know there is an AED on scene when 9-1-1 is called.