September 19, 2008 - The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association (SCAA) yesterday announced the recipients of its 2008 Leadership Awards in recognition of their significant contributions to sudden cardiac arrest awareness and prevention.
The honorees will receive their awards at the SCAA Awards Dinner, Oct. 18 in Philadelphia, held during the SCAA’s annual meeting, as part of a series of events in honor of National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month.
SCAA is the national public advocacy organization dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac arrest through better awareness, better public response and better access to preventative medical therapy. The association is comprised of more than 30 chapters and affiliates across the country. Its members and volunteers include sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survivors, patients at risk, physicians, nurses, emergency professionals and others touched by SCA, which annually kills more than 300,000 people in the U.S.
The awards and those to be honored at the SCAA Awards Dinner include:
- Public Leadership Award: U.S. Representative Betty Sutton (D-OH), chief sponsor of the Josh Miller HEARTS Act of 2008 that would create a federal grant program to fund the purchase and management of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in the nation's schools.
- Corporate Leadership Award: American Airlines, for its industry-leading efforts dating back more than a decade in voluntarily installing AEDs in its entire fleet of aircraft and training tens of thousands of employees in CPR and AED.
- Public Service Award: The Rochester, MN Police Department, for its leadership in installing AEDs in its entire fleet of patrol cars as an effective sudden cardiac arrest first responder system, helping to boost the city’s survival rate for witnessed SCA events to more than 50 percent, well above the national average of 5-7 percent.
- Medical Leadership Award: The University of Pennsylvania Department of Emergency Medicine's Center for Resuscitation Science, one of the nation's premier research and treatment facilities for sudden cardiac arrest, which under the leadership of Dr. Lance Becker and Dr. Benjamin Abella, has brought together a diverse team of scientists, clinicians, and engineers focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of sudden death to improve resuscitation techniques, optimize patient care and enhance the quality of life for SCA survivors.
- Public Spirit Award: SCA survivor June Daugherty, women's basketball coach at Washington State University, who has not only returned to her coaching duties, but has been a visible advocate for cardiac arrest prevention. In subsequent years, this award will be called the June Daugherty Public Spirit Award to recognize other effective public advocates.
- SCAA Founders Award: SCAA will also honor four institutions that played a major role in the organization's launch in 2006 through their collective investment of time, talent and resources. They are:
- The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
- Boston Scientific Corp.
- Medtronic Inc.
- St. Jude Medical Corp.
For more information: www.suddencardiacarrest.org