Jackson Fire Department hosts press conference introducing the 4-Minute City Program

JACKSON, TN (WNBJ) - In Madison County, a local fire department held a press conference today about a new initiative geared towards improving the survival rates of patients suffering a sudden cardiac arrest.

For World Heart Day, the Jackson Fire Department hosted a press conference this morning to introduce the 4-Minute City Program and the future deployment of AED units.

A 4-Minute City is a mass strategic deployment of “smart connected” AEDs or automated external defibrillators.

These AED units can arrive within four minutes of a 911 call increasing the survival rate and speeding up medical response times.

“Instead of a 5-minute response time, we are hoping to have a minute to two-minute response time. Now, we are able to get that AED to that patient, start doing CPR and now we are going to be able to see our success rate go from a 6 percent survivability up to a minimal 10 percent and hopefully even greater than that,” said Nathan Schrupp, the Medical Officer with the Jackson Fire Dept.

The city of Jackson is one of five cities across the U.S. chosen to implement this new program.

The program will need community members willing to intervene and provide the lifesaving AED units by becoming a part of the CARE Team.

The CARE Team will be trained and be in possession of the AED unit when needed to be deployed.

The local non-profit, Friends of Heart, will fund all AED units to CARE Team members.

“We would like to have 50 CARE Team members, but it all boils back down to funding and actually the cost of Next-Generation AEDs is 15 hundred dollars for five years’ worth of connection. It is very inexpensive, especially when you start talking about saving a life,” said Don Friddle, the Deputy Chief with the Jackson Fire Department.

Friends of Heart is funding 250 community AED units.

This new initiative is not only good for on-scene care but also once the patient arrives at the hospital.

“It also helps us when you arrive at the hospital to able to know what’s happening. Right now, we can arrive at the hospital and get a verbal report, but this is real data about what’s going on with that patient. So, our doctors are really excited. It even improves that outcome once you are at the hospital and give us a better ability to care for you when you arrive,” said Deann Thelen, VP & CEO of Jackson-Madison County General Hospital.

If you would like more information about the 4-Minute City Program, please contact the Jackson Fire Department and/or Friends of Heart.