Putting Defibrillators in Hands of North Dakota Law Enforcement Credited With Saving 90 Lives

(Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – An estimated 90 lives have been saved in North Dakota since a grant five years ago equipped law enforcement across North Dakota with modern life-saving equipment.

Department of Health and Human Services officials gathered in Bismarck to celebrate the success of a grant program that purchased 1,700 automated external defibrillators, often called AEDs.

The defibrillators, which deliver an electric shock to the chest of a person suffering a heart attack, can be essential in rural areas, said Sherry Adams, North Dakota’s state health officer.

The devices, purchased through the $4.3 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, have been used about 1,000 times since 2021, according to state health officials.