Hiram is becoming a safer place to have a heart attack — at least in public.
Hiram Police Chief Todd VandeZande has announced that every patrol officer in the Paulding County city of about 3,600 residents will be carrying equipment to resuscitate victims of cardiac arrest.
The officers are equipped with a Rescue Ready Powerheart, an automated external defibrillator from Cardiac Science, to respond quickly when “every second is critical,” city spokesman Robbie Rokovitz told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday in an emailed statement.
“On a medical call, our officers are often times the first units to arrive on scene,” VandeZande said. “We wanted the ability to begin administering cardiac therapy immediately. This equipment will allow us to do that.”
Normally, the fire department paramedics are some of the first to respond to trauma, but information put out by the city showed it wasn’t a turf war. The Paulding County Fire Department worked with the police to make sure all the officers are certified in CPR and the defibrillator, VandeZande said.
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