Minnesota Heart Safe Communities Program

Sudden cardiac arrest can happen anywhere, at anytime, to anyone. And it's almost always fatal. Cardiovascular events, including cardiac arrest, are the second-leading cause of death in Minnesota, responsible for almost 20% of deaths.

In Minnesota in 2010, more than 35% of deaths due to heart disease happened prior to arriving at the hospital, and many of those were due to cardiac arrest. This is why the Minnesota Department of Health, the American Heart Association, the Minnesota Ambulance Association, the Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium, and others have partnered to promote Heart Safe Communities, an effort to prevent death from sudden cardiac arrest by increasing community and public awareness, placing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) wherever people live, work and play, and by educating the public on how to administer CPR.

Heart Safe Communities helps communities and organizations:

• educate community members about sudden cardiac arrest and improving heart health
• train people how to use AEDs and perform CPR

If you are providing CPR training, please add your training numbers here and help train 10 percent of Minnesotans.