Allegheny County given new lifesaving devices

Thanks to the St. Margaret Foundation's PULSE program, nine new Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) have been donated to city and county departments. This boosts the number of public AEDs in Allegheny County to more than 1200. Since 2000, the public defibrillators have saved 60 lives. County Chief Executive Dan Onorato says having these tools is critical to the first minutes in saving a victim's life, despite the county having some of the best health facilities in the country. Six of the nine AEDs will be used by the Sheriff's Office. The others will go to the Pittsburgh EMS Department, the County Courthouse, and one still to be determined location.

There is research shown that survival rate is less than 5 percent from a sudden cardiac arrest event. However, if CPR and an AED are used, the survival rate increases to 60 percent or more.