Public safety and health on the Central Connecticut State University campus in New Britain will be significantly enhanced this fall by an innovative program to expand medical emergency preparedness.  Training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) will be offered to interested volunteers by members of the CCSU CPR/AED Task Force.  The techniques and equipment are proven life-savers in responding to a person’s sudden collapse, and the four-hour course will be offered to students, faculty, and staff.  There are currently 19 volunteers who have expressed an interest in the training. 

Through a Medtronic Foundation grant received by the CCSU Foundation, a CPR/AED Task Force was formed by concerned faculty and staff to promote greater public access to defibrillation on campus by increasing the number of AEDs in buildings and expanding the number of trained volunteers. The goals of the Task Force, endorsed by President Jack Miller and the CCSU Safety and Health Committee, are to raise awareness of emergency procedures that can

be employed in the event of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA); to provide interested volunteers in the CCSU community with CPR/AED training; and to spread the model through Connecticut schools and colleges.

Task Force members include Craig Nolan, the University Fire Marshall and a certified American Heart Association trainer; Professor Lani Johnson, Chairperson of the CCSU Theatre Department and a certified EMT;  Katherine Pirog, the University's Head Athletic Trainer and a certified EMT and CPR/AED trainer; Professor James Gosselin of the Manufacturing and Construction  Management Department, who also teaches the emergency medical technician (EMT) course at CCSU; and  the Task Force chairperson, Professor Lynn Talit of the English Department, long a proponent of increasing the availability of AEDs.  To underscore the importance of both the availability of AEDs and people trained in their use, Professor Talit notes that Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) strikes and can kill with no warning, but often can be prevented by prompt CPR and use of an AED immediately. The only symptom of SCA is sudden collapse and loss of breathing and pulse.  SCA strikes people of all ages—most  who never had heart ailments--and kills more than 250,000 Americans each year. This is more than the combined total who die annually from colon cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, motor vehicle accidents, AIDS, and firearms (homicides, suicides and accidents).

CCSU's Police and Athletic Departments have had AEDs for some time, and additional units have recently been purchased for some campus buildings.  But Task Force members believe that this more extensive new plan—with its provision for wider availability of AEDs, its course on CPR/AED training of volunteers, and the opportunities for those volunteers to apply their training in their own communities—is the first of its kind on a Connecticut college campus.

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