Cardiac Crusade<\/a>, a nonprofit built to make AEDs easier to find when every second matters.<\/p>\n\u201cThe idea started with a simple question,\u201d Greg said. \u201cWhy can I ask Google where the closest Starbucks is\u2014but not an AED? That thought started this whole campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardiac Crusade partners with PulsePoint AED, a verified database and app that helps 911 dispatchers and users locate nearby defibrillators in real time. Volunteers nationwide, many trained by the Coons, go business to business, photographing and verifying AED locations so emergency responders and bystanders know where they are and can access them instantly.<\/p>\n
“If that takes 90 seconds instead of seven minutes while waiting for an ambulance, that\u2019s the difference between life and death.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nonprofit\u2019s work has already mapped more than 10,000 AEDs nationwide, from Buffalo to Boston to San Diego\u2014boosting survival rates in cities that adopt the program. Cardiac Crusade campaigns helped Buffalo grow its AED registry from 115 to 1,200 devices in just four months, and the Coons hope to continue that growth in North Texas.<\/p>\n
To raise awareness and fund new volunteers, they hosted a pickleball fundraiser at Chicken N Pickle in Allen\u2014complete with families, friends, and a surprise reunion.<\/p>\n
One of the twin sisters who helped save Julie\u2019s life showed up to play on Greg\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both got choked up,\u201d Julie said. \u201cIt was so great to hug her because she and her twin noticed something and took action. It\u2019s why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nKeeping the heartbeat going <\/p>\n
Cardiac Crusade continues to expand city by city, to eventually integrate AED data into Google and Apple Maps, so anyone with a phone can find the nearest lifesaving device in seconds.<\/p>\n
Because Julie Coon knows what difference those seconds can make.<\/p>\n
All because someone knew what to do\u2014and now, she\u2019s making sure the rest of us do too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What started as one rescue in Plano is now a nationwide mission\u2014 Cardiac Crusade, a nonprofit mapping AEDs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-37470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-plano","9":"tag-plano-headlines","10":"tag-plano-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}