LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools started a new district-wide training Monday to help people having a heart attack.
The district is installing 337 new automated external defibrillators (AED). AEDs are medical devices that can be used on people experiencing cardiac arrest to help shock their heart back into rhythm.
The life-saving devices are being installed in each JCPS school and building, and some buildings will be equipped with more than one.
"Cardiac events can happen anywhere, including in our schools or at our athletic facilities," Dave Self, JCPS Executive Director of Safety and Environmental Services, said in a news release on Monday. "We want to make sure our schools have these devices in place and staff are equipped and prepared to use them to save a life."
The number of AED systems each school receives will depend on the size of the building. High schools will have at least five or six systems, with one in the front lobby, one portable unit with the athletic director, and the rest mounted throughout the building. Self said a person should be able to get to an AED within two minutes from anywhere in the building.
Each school will have six people trained on how to use the devices, in addition to CPR and other first aid procedures.
The first training session was scheduled for Monday at Grace James Academy.
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