Communities receive AEDs through CRH program Just over 100 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) have been purchased by the Center for Rural Health and distributed to 78 North Dakota communities. An AED is a small, lightweight device used to assess a person’s heart rhythm. If necessary, it administers an electric shock to restore a normal rhythm in victims of sudden cardiac arrest. In the past four years, CRH has placed 550 AEDs in approximately 275 rural North Dakota communities. Through this Rural Access to Emergency Devices (RAED) Grant Program, funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, every county in the state has at least one AED. “Access to healthcare is a critical issue in rural areas,” said Lynette Dickson, director of the program for the CRH. “Minutes can make a difference in someone surviving. The best chance for survival is when the victim is revived within four minutes after suffering a cardiac arrest.” The RAED Grant Program is organized through a statewide-community partnership, which includes the CRH as the lead, the North Dakota Department of Health Division of Emergency Medical Services, the North Dakota Emergency Medical Services Association and the North Dakota Healthcare Association. Representatives from the partnership select AED recipients from the applications based on need and then purchase and distribute the AEDs to the selected rural facilities. For a list of communities who received an AED through the RAED program this year, visit www.med.und.nodak.edu/depts/rural/publications/program/raedgrantrecipients.html Due to reduction in the federal budget, this is the fourth and final year for the RAED Grant Program in North Dakota. -- Amanda Scurry, public information specialist, UND Center for Rural Health, ascurry@medicine.nodak.edu, 701-777-0871