Stratford EMS is designated a HEARTSafe Workplace

From CT DPH: The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) announces that the Stratford EMS Headquarters facility in Stratford, Connecticut has been designated a HEARTSafe Workplace.

The HEARTSafe Workplace program is designed to promote and recognize the efforts of workplaces to provide improved cardiac response and care to its employees and visitors. Stratford EMS has demonstrated its commitment toward ensuring that the people in its workplace receive early life saving response proven to increase the chances of survival for heart attack victims.

“We are so proud to have received this important designation,” said Michael Loiz, Director of EMS for the Town of Stratford. “We are the 10th HEARTSafe Workplace in Connecticut, the First in Stratford and the only EMS Agency in Connecticut to be designated a HEARTSafe Workplace.

We manage the Towns HEARTSafe Community Designation which was also renewed this past month. Stratford EMS was one of the first EMS services in the nation to adopt and use the life saving semi-automatic external defibrillators, serving as the pilot site for the State of Connecticut in 1986. As an EMS agency with our history, we felt it was our duty to lead by ensuring that we are setting the right example. We are hopeful that other Town departments and businesses will follow suite.”

In order to become a HEARTSafe Workplace, SEMS needed to validate compliance with CPR/AED Training and certification for staff; health promotion and education opportunities for staff; AED’s with proper signage in accessible areas and a written emergency action plan (EAP) that includes response to medical emergencies on the Stratford EMS property.

Recognizing that people spend the majority of their lives in their workplace, the DPH began the HEARTSafe Workplace program to foster environments that improve the survival odds for people suffering sudden cardiac events, such as cardiac arrests or heart attacks. The key to the program has been dubbed by the American Heart Association as the "Chain of Survival". The Chain of Survival has four vital links: early access to emergency care; early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); early defibrillation with automated external defibrillators (AEDs); and early advanced care.

A HEARTSafe Workplace promotes and supports: CPR/AED training for a minimum of 10% of staff; public access to defibrillation through strategic placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs); health promotion activities and events for employees; and a written emergency action plan. It is a three-year designation.

Workplaces can include private businesses, educational institutions, non-profit agencies, government agencies, faith based organizations, etc.

Photo courtesy of CT DPH