UConn Health Home to 30 New Public Access AEDs

UConn Health’s campus now has 30 new public access Automated-External Defibrillators (AEDs) along with Stop the Bleed kits throughout common areas of its buildings and facilities.

Fire Chief William Perez in the Academic lobby inspecting one of the 30 newly installed public access AED and Stop the Bleed kits across the UConn Health campus (Tina Encarnacion/UConn Health).

UConn Health’s campus is equipped with nearly three-dozen new Automated-External Defibrillators (AEDs) in common areas of its buildings and facilities.

“We have 30 AEDs along with Stop the Bleed kits placed throughout UConn Health,” said William Perez EdD, fire chief and associate director of Public Safety at UConn. “Survival of cardiac arrest events nearly doubles with bystander AED access and CPR. These AED devices being easily accessible by the community is critical to saving more lives.”

AED devices, which administer an electric shock through the chest wall to the heart, are proven to improve the chances for individuals to survive a sudden cardiac arrest. UConn Health’s AED initiative is part of the university-wide public access AED program in collaboration with the student organization UConn Rescue interested in emergency medical services (EMS) training. By December 2020, over 350 AEDs and Stop the Bleed kits, which include a tourniquet, wound dressing, and shears to stop bleeding during an emergency, are expected to be placed across the University.

“The UConn Health public access AED and Stop the Bleed kit program is transformative for UConn Health and makes everyone safer,” shared Dr. Andy Agwunobi, CEO of UConn Health.

Whether you are a UConn Health patient, visitor, employee, contractor, staffer or student you can now easily access an AED or Stop the Bleed Kit at any time should an emergency situation arise.

The free downloadable PulsePoint AED app helps you quickly locate a nearby AED on your phone.

Download the free PulsePoint AED App to your cell phone to have at your fingertips the the geographic locations of all 30 AEDs accessible on UConn Health’s campus and to be more prepared should a lifesaving opportunity strike. The app also shares the locations of all AEDs across the University of Connecticut’s campuses. Additionally, a UConn Public Safety dispatcher can be reached 24/7 to advise you on the closest AED to your location during an emergency.

“Please join UConn Fire in our mission to save lives,” Chief Perez says. “Thanks to everyone on the UConn Health campus for doing their part should a public health emergency arise to use a nearby AED or a Stop the Bleed kit. Thank you for being part of the UConn Nation of First Responders.”

Readily available for the public and members of the UConn Health community on the UConn Fire website are short instructional how-to training videos for proper use of AED and Stop the Bleed kits, and other informative online resources including about CPR. The instructional videos demonstrate how to use the AEDs in an easy to follow, step-by-step method, featuring UConn students, staff, and faculty in action. As each AED location also contains a Stop the Bleed kit, the videos also demonstrate how to manage an uncontrolled bleeding emergency using the materials provided. The training videos, released in February, are part of UConn Fire’s lifesaving focused video campaign in partnership with UConn Rescue.

Automated-External Defibrillator (AED).

Perez adds: “I would like to thank Deputy Fire Chief Renshaw, Captain Prendergast, Lieutenant Roper, and a special thanks to UConn Health’s administration and its Campus Planning team who all helped make this AED project come to fruition.”

Last year, UConn was officially named a “HEARTSafe Campus” by the Connecticut Department of Health and its Office of Emergency Medical Services, in collaboration with the American Heart Association– the first institution of higher education in the state of Connecticut to earn the designation.

As a medical center campus, UConn Health hopes to pursue its own HEARTSafe Campus designation this fall.

 

UConn Health Campus – AED Locations

Building Floor Location
195 Farmington Ave 3rd Floor By room 3080
Lab Building 4th Floor Elevator lobby By L-4029
Lab Building 6th Floor Elevator Lobby By L-6029
ARB- E Building 7th Floor Elevator lobby
Outpatient Pavilion 1st Floor By S-1001 near restroom
400 Farmington Ave. Main Floor TIP Entrance
195 Farmington Ave 3rd Floor By U2000 by restroom
Clinic Building 2nd Floor By C2EL8 (SC1)
MARB 1st Floor By Restroom
Daycare Main Floor Inside Directors Office
Warehouse 1st Floor Lobby by Restroom
ARB- E Building 3rd Floor Elevator lobby
MARB 3rd Floor By Bridge into Garage
16 Munson Rd 2nd Floor Bottom of Escalator
ASB 1st Floor By Bathroom
400 Farmington Ave. Main Floor By R-1121
Outpatient Pavilion 3rd Floor By S-3001 near restroom
16 Munson Rd 4th Floor Main Lobby By Fire Pannel
Outpatient Pavilion 7th Floor By S-7001 near restroom
ARB- E Building Ground Floor By Entry door
ARB- E Building 1st Floor Elevator lobby
ARB- E Building 5th Floor Elevator lobby
F-Building Main Floor Inside Cafeteria
Clinic Building Main Floor By Lobby door
Outpatient Pavilion 5th Floor By S-5001 near restroom
Lab Building Ground Floor By LG-033 (UConn PD)
Lab Building Sub Basement Elevator Lobby By LSB-014
B-Building Basement Elevator lobby (BBE1)
Academic Building Ground Floor By Entrance Doors
Lab Building 2nd Floor Elevator lobby By L-2029