Raleigh, N.C. — HeartSafe Moore County has been invited to give a presentation on the need for AEDs in schools to the Senate standing committee on Health Care

The organization, which focuses its efforts to get AEDs in public places in Moore County, was organized in December 2007, and it is endorsed by Moore County leaders.

Sen. William R. Purcell invited the organization to present its Public Access De fibrillation (PAD) program to the Justus-Warren Task Force on Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, which Sen. Purcell chairs. According to a press release from HeartSafe Moore County, the task force is looking to pursue legislation modeled after HeartSafe Moore County.

In the press release, HeartSafe Moore County states that between 7,000 and 14,000 children and young adults in the United States die annually from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), and that the three most common causes are Long QT Syndrome, Commotio Cordis, and Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Commotio Cordis is what caused Cardinal Gibbons senior lacrosse player Alex Beuris to go into SCA, and HCM occurs in 1 out of every 500 people. HCM often goes undetected.

The presentation will be held at the Legislative Building on West Jones St., in Raleigh, in room 1027. It should begin Wednesday, Apr. 30, at 11 a.m.

The group will also be giving their presentation to the N.C. Board of Education that afternoon at 3:35 p.m., at the Education Building on North Wilmington Street.

To find out more about HeartSafe Moore County, visit their web site, www.heartsafemoore.org.

On their web site, HeartSafe Moore County has several statistics from various organizations that make the case for the importance of AEDs.