City of Detroit becomes largest municipality to achieve HEARTSafe Community designation

2024
  • Detroit Fire Department working to train all city employees in hands-only CPR
  • More than 500 AEDs across Detroit are registered on the PulsePoint app
  • More than 100,000 people have been trained in hands-only CPR and AED use in Detroit
  • HEARTSafe designation highlights ongoing work to improve cardiac arrest care in the City of Detroit

 

More than a decade of hard work and dedication is paying off as Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms today announced the City of Detroit is the largest municipality to earn the HEARTSafe Community designation.

This achievement means Detroit is an official part of the HEARTSafe Community initiative, a national preparedness program dedicated to improving outcomes of sudden cardiac arrest, led by the Citizen CPR Foundation.

The Detroit Fire Department has been working to pursue the HEARTSafe Community designation to highlight their ongoing commitment to the cardiac health of Detroiters and to improving survival rates for patients who suffer cardiac arrest citywide.

“Our team has been working behind the scenes for nearly twenty years, gathering data on cardiac arrest, building relationships, and working to improve outcomes,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “Thanks to the Citizen CPR Foundation for highlighting this critical effort and giving us actionable goals to continue to work towards.”

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Mayor Duggan joins Commissioner Chuck Simms, the Detroit Fire Department and community partners to celebrate Detroit's HEARTSafe Community designation.

 

To become HEARTSafe, a community must fulfill 13 criteria. Some of these requirements include training 15 percent of the community population every year, developing and implementing strategies to improve public awareness and bystander intervention, permanently placing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) that can be quickly and reliably accessed, and recognizing rescuers for their lifesaving efforts, among other critical requisites. For a

comprehensive list of criteria in order to become a HEARTSafe Community, click here.

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Mayor Duggan congratulated Commissioner Simms and the hard-working men and women of the Detroit Fire Department, remarking on how far we've come in the past ten years.

 

A work in progress

The work towards achieving and retaining the HEARTSafe Community designation is being led by Detroit Fire Department’s Medical Director, Dr. Robert Dunne and Captain Jeffrey Forbes, with support from Commissioner Simms and Mayor Duggan.

“I am proud of the dedication of the men and women of the Detroit Fire Department for their hard work towards becoming the largest municipality to be designated a HEARTSafe Community,” said Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms. “Our residents deserve the best we can provide in terms of education and prevention, but we can’t do it alone. We need the support of the whole community as we work to improve cardiac arrest care for the citizens of Detroit.”

Since the City of Detroit joined the PulsePoint app in 2023 under the leadership of the Detroit Fire Department, there are now more than 500 AEDs registered in the City of Detroit, making it quick and easy for residents who have downloaded the app to find an AED in the case of a cardiac arrest.

The Detroit Fire Department also leads the critical work of CPR training in the City of Detroit, in collaboration with community partners. Through these partnerships, more than 100,000 people have been trained in CPR in the past year in the city. This work is being done at city recreation centers, community events, and through training programs offered across the city. Detroiters can sign up for CPR training here: https://calendly.com/dfdacademy.

Several community partners are collaborating in this important work, including Detroit East Medical Control Authority, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, area hospital systems, Ford Field, General Motors and Grainger, among others. The full list of community partners can be found at https://detroitmi.gov/departments/detroit-fire-department.

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15-year-old Gregory Pope III, who performed CPR on his neighbor, encourages Detroiters to learn CPR, stating you just never know when you're going to need it.

 

Today’s announcement is just a step as the City of Detroit works towards even greater improved outcomes of cardiac arrest. The teams charged with this essential work will continue making progress toward several goals, including:

  • Train 15% of the city’s population in CPR every year
  • Work to train all City of Detroit employees in at least Hands-Only CPR
  • To have all 8th grade students in the City of Detroit trained in Hands-Only CPR
  • Encourage organizations and community groups in the City of Detroit to develop cardiac arrest emergency response plans
  • Purchase additional AEDs and install them in key public places
  • Continue to promote AED registration through the PulsePoint app
  • Educate the community on the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, prevention and how to respond in an emergency

To continue to be recognized as a HEARTSafe Community, the City of Detroit must keep making progress in these areas.  

“The Citizen CPR Foundation is so proud to designate Detroit as a HEARTSafe Community,” says Stuart Berger, MD, Citizen CPR Foundation Board President and Executive Director, the Heart Center at Lurie Children’s Hospital. “Leading up to this designation, Detroit has done impressive work in improving their system of care for sudden cardiac arrest. The impact of these well-delivered community-based strategies will be measured directly in the number of lives saved in their city.”

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Signs highlighting the City of Detroit as a HEARTSafe Community will be placed citywide.

 

City of Detroit community partners

1. Advantage Health

2. All 19 City of Detroit Recreation Centers

3. All 7 Detroit District Managers

4. American Heart Association

5. American Red Cross

6. Ascension Providence

7. Ascension St. John’s Hospital

8. Childrens Hospital

9. City of Detroit Mayor and Staff

10. Corewell Dearborn

11. Corewell Farmington

12. Corewell Grosse Pointe

13. Corewell Health

14. DEMCA

15. Detroit Area Agency on Aging

16. Detroit Athletic Club

17. Detroit Department of Elections

18. Detroit Health Department

19. Detroit Medical Center - Childrens Hospital

20. Detroit Medical Center - Detroit Receiving

21. Detroit Medical Center – Hutzel Hospital

22. Detroit Medical Center - Sinai Grace

23. Detroit Medical Center (DMC)

24. Detroit Police Department

25. Detroit Public Safety Foundation

26. Detroit VA Medical Center

27. Detroit Public Schools Community District

28. Eastern Market

29. Ford Field (Detroit Lions)

30. General Motors

31. Grainger

32. Henry Ford Cottage

33. Henry Ford Health System

34. Henry Ford Hospital Detroit

35. Homeland Security

36. Homeroom Detroit

37. HUDA Clinic

38. McKinney Foundation

39. MiSide

40. Numerous Places of Worship

41. Riverhouse Coop

42. Rocket Companies

43. SaveMIHeart

44. Stryker

45. Team Wellness

46. UAW

47. VA

48. Wayne County Sherriff

49. Wayne State Mobile Health

50. Wayne State University

51. WDIV Channel 4

52. Zoll

53. Special Thanks to Thomas Miscovich –DPD 911