HeartSine and Project ADAM Launch Poster Contest to Raise Awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest

NEWTOWN, Pa. - Feb. 2, 2015 - PRLog -- In an effort to raise awareness to the importance of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), HeartSine® and Project ADAM have joined forces to launch a SCA poster contest open to all U.S. elementary, middle, and high schools.

The contest is intended to raise awareness of SCA, a condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. With an estimated 20 percent of the U.S. population spending time in school each week, schools are a vital location for SCA prevention programs. Programs that help schools implement cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use are successful and lead to higher survival rates for SCA incidents occurring on school grounds.

HeartSine and Project ADAM will award 10 complete CPR/AED packages that include a HeartSine samaritan® PAD 350P AED with carrying case and Pad-Pak™, a wall case, and CPR and AED training for up to 12 people.

“School is the ideal place to build awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, which is the leading cause of death on school property,” says Rene’ Williams, HeartSine’s Director of Global Marketing. “By educating our young, soon we’ll have an entire generation of people prepared and willing to come to the aid of a SCA victims. Groups like Project ADAM are making great strides in educating the public about SCA and the need for CPR training and AEDs.”

In order to enter, students must create one poster from each school that talks about one or more of these SCA topics: symptoms of SCA, surviving SCA, and preparing for SCA. Posters will be judged on school teamwork, design originality, visual appeal, and SCA awareness message clarity. Each poster must be created entirely by the students attending the school, without any assistance.

Posters can be submitted from January 15 through March 13, 2015. Winners will be announced on April 7, 2015, and the winning posters will be uploaded to the Project ADAM Facebook page. For the complete rules, guidelines, and submission information, visit http://heartsine.com/project-adam-school-poster-contest/.

About SCA

SCA happens to people of all ages, including children. It is a condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating, causing blood to stop flowing to the brain and other vital organs. Most people who have a SCA die from it—often within minutes, though rapid treatment can be lifesaving.

SCA warning signs and symptoms include fainting, sudden collapse, difficulty breathing, chest pain, dizziness, seizure-like activity, and abnormal racing heart rate. SCA can happen in people who appear healthy and have no known heart disease or other risk factors. CPR alone will not restart the heart, so the American Heart Association and ERC recommend CPR combined with early defibrillation (within three to five minutes) for the best outcome.

SCA claims more than seven million lives annually. It occurs abruptly and without warning, with 84 percent of SCA events occurring outside of the healthcare setting.

About HeartSine Technologies

HeartSine Technologies, a world leader in personal and public access defibrillators, advances the deployment of life-saving defibrillation therapy for the treatment of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in non-traditional areas of care.

Designed for use in public areas, the company’s entire line of Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) products leverages its proprietary, clinically advanced SCOPE technology to optimize the administration of life-saving treatment.

The company’s flagship product line, the HeartSine samaritan PAD (Public Access Defibrillator), is IP56 rated for durability and exceptional reliability to meet the unique environmental demands of public use. Its industry-leading warranty and innovative battery/electrode Pad-Pak combine to give the samaritan PAD defibrillators the lowest total cost of ownership. HeartSine is active in over 70 countries worldwide in a wide range of environments, including commercial aircraft, military and shipping facilities, manufacturing plants, offices, schools and sports clubs.

HeartSine is based in Newton, Pennsylvania and Belfast, Northern Ireland. To learn how a HeartSine AED can save lives, please visit http://heartsine.com and follow HeartSine on Facebook and Twitter.

About Project ADAM

Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam’s Memory) began in 1999 after a series of sudden deaths among high school athletes in southeastern Wisconsin. Many of these deaths appear due to ventricular fibrillation, a condition in which the ventricles cannot pump blood into the body.

After Adam Lemel, a 17-year-old Whitefish Bay, WI high school student collapsed and died while playing basketball, Adam's parents, Patty Lemel and Joe Lemel, along with David Ellis, a childhood friend of Adam's, collaborated with Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to create this program in Adam's memory.

The project helps schools in Wisconsin and across the nation implement programs to make AEDs available. The programs accomplish this by supporting schools in being prepared for a cardiac emergency through implementation of cardiac emergency response plans, staff CPR and AED training, student CPR education, fundraising ideas and support and sudden cardiac arrest awareness education.

Project ADAM’s nationally recognized program has affiliate programs in eleven additional states outside of Wisconsin. Hospital systems around the nation have adopted the Project ADAM model in which a medical director and coordinator team collaborate with surrounding schools, communities and organizations to offer life saving cardiac emergency response planning resources. Collaborative national efforts are responsible for saving 94 lives, to date, because staff or students responded to SCA with an appropriate and timely response. To learn more about Project ADAM, and to contact an affiliate nearest you, please visit http://projectadam.com and follow us on Facebook, http://facebook.com/SupportProjectADAM.