Giving Tuesday: Cardiac Arrest Not-For-Profits in Our Communities

Giving Tuesday: Cardiac Arrest Not-For-Profits in Our Communities

It seems this last week of November brings a deluge of official and unofficial holidays. One of these, Giving Tuesday, is an important reminder to support the many not-for-profit organizations that serve our communities. As you finish up your Thanksgiving leftovers, we want to take a moment to highlight a few organizations that Code One works with. These groups provide lifesaving support year round. We also have general suggestions for not-for-profits who can use your help if you want to keep your donations local.

Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation: A New York based charitable organization named for Louis Acompora, a student lacrosse goalie who died from cardiac arrest during his first high school game in 2000. The Foundation is committed to improving sports safety, with a special focus on placing AEDs in all schools and youth athletic organizations. More Information

KEVS Foundation: A Massachusetts based charity named for Kevin Major who passed away from Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) at the age of 19. Their goal is to help raise awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest through education, cardiovascular screenings for young persons, and to provide state of the art Automatic Emergency Defibrillators (AED) in our communities. An outdoor AED enclosure in Westfield, MA donated by KEVS Foundation was used to save the life of a pickle ball player who collapsed on the court earlier this year! More Information

Compress and Shock Foundation: Virginia based organization founded by Emergency Medicine physician Jack Perkins aims to improve CPR and AED education in the southwest Virginia region. The group provides free CPR training sessions throughout the year targeted to disparate communities where cardiac survival rates are lower. The Foundation also focuses on legislation that enhances the availability of AEDs in the community. More Information

Amazon Smile allows you to shop as you normally would while making a difference for your favorite charity. Go to smile.amazon.com and choose your favorite charity. A portion of all purchases made through Smile will be donated to your charity. Note: I routinely forget to add the smile at the front when I go to Amazon. Adding a bookmark to my browser that goes to the smile.amazon.com domain has helped me take advantage of this more often.

EMS Services: Volunteer ambulance services are often the forgotten organizations in the community. While many communities rely on taxpayer funded and for-profit commercial ambulance providers, there are hundreds of volunteer organizations throughout the country that do not receive tax funding to operate. Some also do not bill patients if they are not covered by health insurance. The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched the ranks of volunteers thin. Volunteer EMS teams need support to purchase equipment, provide training, and recruit more members to keep their communities safer. If you don’t know who provides ambulance services in your community, take a moment to find out and see if they need help.

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