On October 1, HEARTSafe Bexley held its kickoff for a series of citywide CPR training events where residents can learn how to do chest compressions and use an automated external defibrillator (AED). “I want everyone to feel confident that if they come across a cardiac event, they know what to do,” says Heart Safe Bexley’s founder, Lee Nathans.

The stats are scary: when a person has a sudden cardiac event, without an AED and CPR the chance of death is 70%. AEDs give the first responders time to get to a person’s aid.

Lee, a former Bexley Citizen of the Year with a background in public health who is also the president of the Bexley Citizens Police Academy Association (BCPAA), was inspired to start HEARTSafe Bexley partly because of NFL player Damar Hamlin and partly because he himself had suffered a heart scare back in 2005. “I was walking into a basketball game and I stumbled and a fire fighter said I had to go to the hospital,” he recalls. He resisted, thinking he was fine and not wanting to leave the game. “I had a 99.9% blockage and a double bypass.” An AED wouldn’t have helped his situation, but after he saw Damar Hamlin’s heart attack during the Buffalo Bills’ game in Cincinnati, he started digging and learned that Bexley is an isolated island in terms of AED availability, according to a national program called Pulse Point AED, an app that shows locations of the devices. “We want to fill in the island,” Lee says.

It’s possible, he says, that more AEDs exist in Bexley but aren’t linked to the system. Nevertheless, in an emergency, first responders need to know where they are so they can direct people to get help. Lee’s goal is to ensure more AEDs are available in the city, especially when there are large events. “I’d like to see them on every street,” he says. “I care because this is where I live and I want my friends to know what to do.”

To get this initiative off the ground, Lee went to Washington, DC, and met leaders of various sudden cardiac arrest community groups, including survivors, spouses, parents, AED vendors and CPR trainers. Then, Lee brought on local partners, including Bexley Police Department, the City of Bexley, Columbus Division of Fire, the BCPAA, the Bexley Community Foundation, the Bexley Public Library, Bexley Area Chamber of Commerce and Central Ohio Division of the American Heart Association.

HEARTSafe Bexley aims to have training sessions twice weekly at various locations around the city through the fall and winter: Bexley United Methodist Church, the library, the police station, and the Bexley Senior Center, for example. Sessions will be weekly in 2024. Their goal is for 20 people to attend each of their free training events and, long-term, for 15% of our community’s population to be trained. That’s about 2,100 people.

HEARTSafe Bexley’s launch coincides with the city’s launch of its Critical Incident Management plan, led by Lieutenant Dawn Overly, the Bexley Police Department’s Emergency manager.

HEARTSafe Bexley is already working with the BCS school system to get all of Bexley’s public schools certified through the Project Adam program offered through Nationwide Children’s Hospital by the end of 2023. St. Charles is already certified, Lee explained, having gone through a timed drill where teachers and administrators have specific tasks to complete within three minutes. Bexley schools would need to complete this test and make a plan for real-life events. In addition, there is pending legislation, House Bill 47, that Lee hopes will become law by Thanksgiving, which would require every school to have an AED. “Bexley will be ahead of the curve,” Lee says.

Visit Bexley.org/HEARTSafe to find training times, locations and sign-up information.