Capitola Police Department Equips Entire Patrol Fleet with Life-Saving Defibrillators
CAPITOLA, Calif. — Every patrol vehicle in the Capitola Police Department's fleet is now equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED), thanks to a donation coordinated by Six Minutes to Live: Santa Cruz. The achievement was made possible through the generosity of Avive, a Brisbane, California-based AED manufacturer, and the Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce, who together funded and supplied the devices for the department's entire fleet.
Half of the AEDs were donated directly by Avive, while the remaining units were funded by the Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce. With defibrillators now on board every cruiser, Capitola police officers will be able to add defibrillation to their life-saving skill of CPR for patients in sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)— a condition in which survival odds fall by roughly 10 percent for every minute a defibrillator is not used. SCA can happen to anyone. When SCA occurs, immediately starting bystander, hands-only CPR and using an AED can increase survival rates by 40-75%.
"Every second matters during a cardiac emergency. By equipping every Capitola Police patrol vehicle with an AED, our officers are better prepared to provide immediate, lifesaving care while waiting for fire and EMS personnel to arrive,” said Sarah Ryan, Chief of Police, Capitola Police Department. “This remarkable partnership demonstrates what can be accomplished when our community comes together with a shared commitment to protecting lives. We are deeply grateful to Six Minutes to Live: Santa Cruz, Avive, and the Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce for making this possible."
“The Capitola-Soquel Chamber is proud to support this important effort to help keep our community safe,” said Carrie Arnone, CEO, Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce. “We are grateful for the opportunity to provide these AEDs to the Capitola Police Department and help give our officers another tool to respond when every second matters. It’s a wonderful reminder of what can happen when our community comes together to care for one another.”
Six Minutes to Live: Santa Cruz, a local organization dedicated to improving cardiac arrest survival rates through public access to defibrillation, led the coordination effort that brought the donation together.
“The science is clear: patients who receive interventions in the first minutes of collapse have much better outcomes,” said Hilary Gates, Santa Cruz resident and co-founder of Six Minutes to Live. “We are so grateful to these generous donors for giving our police officers even more tools to save lives.”
Avive Solutions is the manufacturer of the Avive Connect AED®, the first and only AED with 911 integration, industry leading ease of use, remote monitoring, and incident data transfer. The devices are lightweight, built to protect, and easy to maintain.
“We are honored to have played a part in equipping every Capitola police officer with a tool to respond in the critical minutes before additional help arrives,” said Sameer Jafri, CEO ,Avive Solutions. “That's exactly the kind of community impact we built the Avive AED for. We're proud to partner with the Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce and Six Minutes to Live: Santa Cruz to put this technology directly into the hands of first responders."
