Fellowship Place receives donated Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) from Dragonheart Foundation

The Michael Vincent Sage Dragonheart Foundation has donated an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) to Fellowship Place’s New Haven campus facility. Fellowship Place Executive Director, Mary Guerrera, who received the device from Lauren Rossi of the Dragonheart Foundation stated “We are grateful for the Dragonheart Foundation’s commitment to building awareness about sudden cardiac deaths and how immediate access to AED’s can make a big difference in saving the life of someone in mid cardiac emergency. Our staff, who have been CPR and AED trained, will now be equipped with the lifesaving technology to react within seconds of an incident.”

According to the Dragonheart Foundation’s website, www.defibandlive.org, early defibrillation with an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and CPR can more than double chances of survival. The American Heart Association estimates that 20,000 to 100,000 Sudden Cardiac Arrest deaths could be prevented if defibrillation was readily available. Why is the donation of an AED so important to Fellowship Place? Recent studies have shown that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature death among schizophrenia patients, who die from heart and blood vessel disorders at double the rate of persons without the mental disorder. Serving over 600 individuals annually who suffer from chronic mental illness in our community, Fellowship Place is thrilled to be the recipient of such a valuable piece of life saving equipment.

For more information please contact:
Melissa Holroyd, Fellowship Place Development Director at mholroyd@fellowshipplace.org
Lauren Rossi, The Michael Vincent Sage Dragonheart Foundation at mvs.dragonheart@gmail.com