Student Raises Awareness About AEDs

Severna Park High School student Brooke Latone is working toward earning her Girl Scout Gold Award project by installing an automated external defibrillator (AED) along with pediatric pads at her church, Our Shepard Lutheran.

Heart failure is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Approximately one in four deaths are the result of heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After Brooke’s aunt died of heart failure in 2023, she learned more about the toll heart disease has caused nationwide.

Heart failure may be caused by high blood pressure, diseases of the heart muscle, heart valve problems, congenital heart defects, and other reasons. Brooke’s project addresses the need for awareness of where AEDs are located and the resultant lack of use of AEDs in saving the lives of people suffering from heart attacks or heart failure.

“Rapid access to an AED is the best chance someone with heart failure has — every minute without defibrillation decreases the chances of survival by 7% to 10% — yet many people couldn’t tell you if there is an AED in the public building they are in or how to find out,” Brooke said.

Her goal is to make people aware of the application PulsePoint AED, which shows AED locations near them, and by doing so, improve the chances that AEDs will be able to assist someone suffering from heart failure in the future.