Rugby EMS receives $46,193 grant

Posted on 8/7/2012

Rugby EMS, operated by Heart of America Medical Center in Rugby has been awarded a grant in the amount of $46,193 by the North Dakota Department of Health. The grant was made under the Division of EMS & Trauma's EMS Funding Area Grant program for fiscal year 2012-2013. This grant program was funded by EMS legislation passed in the last legislative session aimed at supporting rural EMS services in North Dakota.

The grant funds will be used to strengthen the EMS department's public education programs for sudden cardiac death and heart attack. Project objectives will be to train 15% of the population in Rugby and Pierce County in Adult CPR; improve public recognition of the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and the appropriate activation of 911; equip all police and sheriff's vehicles with automatic external defibrillators and provide training to the law enforcement officers; improve training of local and regional ambulance personnel in emergency cardiac care procedures

The ultimate goal of the grant project for Rugby EMS is to see a decrease in the disability of heart attacks and an improved survival from sudden cardiac death in our community.