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Save Lives with SHOCKS!

SHOCKS: Saving Hearts of California Kids works to increase AED (automatic external defibrillator) accessibility in California schools.  An AED shocks a heart back into normal rhythm when its arresting.  About 15,000 children die every year due to sudden cardiac arrest. Yet, California does not require that its schools have AEDs readily available were a child, parent, or campus guest to arrest.   AEDs cost about $1000 each.  Please help us raise money for an AED to give to a school like our most recent recipient, Washington Elementary in Berkeley, CA, by donating this summer! 




"Evidence shows that schools with AEDs and emergency action plans have a survival rate of up to 64% (versus the national statistic of a mere 8%). We must demand that AEDs are in our schools and youth centers, and that communities are effectively trained in the cardiac chain of survival. Ultimately, a mandatory and systematic national registry documenting the incidence of sudden cardiac arrest in the young is critical to the development of prevention protocol in youth health care." -Parent Heart Watch




You can learn more about sudden cardiac arrest in youth here: https://parentheartwatch.org/the-problem/







Student testimonies: 




"I was a student athlete at a small school in San Jose.  One day while running on the track I collapsed and had a cardiac arrest.  My high school did not have an AED, but luckily there was a fire station right next to my school.  The firefighters heard the commotion and jumped the fence and used an AED to save my life.  If the fire station had not been next to my school, I might not have survived as the ambulance that was called took 10 minutes to arrive whicch would have been a 0% chance of survival.  I am only of the lucky ones, but many schools around California do not have AEDs and many students have not had the same luck.  I joined SHOCKS because I have personally experienced the need for an AED and I want to make sure that students and people in general have access to this lifesaving device.  I believe in this organization and I do not want anyone to have to go through an experience like mine in which an AED was not on my campus.




I hope that you will consider making a donation of any amount to this cause which will have a direct impact to helping save lives.  Donating right now will ensure that your donation will go to buying an AED to place in a high school and training the staff at the school to be able to use and maintain the AED." -Omar, UC Berkeley student







"In January of 2016 I started getting a strange feeling in my chest. I brushed it off as nothing since it would only occur a few times a week. Progressively, the feeling got stronger and more frequent. It was happening every day now, and it would go on for hours at a time each night, preventing me from sleeping. It felt like someone was pressing on my chest, as if to give me CPR. It would sometimes make it hard to breathe, and I knew it was time to seek medical attention. In March of 2016, after wearing a holter monitor for two days, my cardiologist called. He told me I have what is called premature ventricular contractions. Essentially, my heart will contract too quickly, before blood has fully filled my ventricles, meaning I do not get enough blood circulating from that beat. It puts me at a higher risk for cardiomyopathy, or weakening of the heart muscle, as well as ventricular fibrillation, which can lead to sudden death. 




The day after I received my diagnosis, I was terrified. I was frantically researching how to prevent this condition from harming me in any way. I learned how an AED may be the only thing that could save my life. I also learned how AEDs are so often absent from public places. That same day I got an email from the Cal Career Center about SHOCKS, a nonprofit organization with the goal of providing every school in California with an AED. 




AEDs save lives. They save lives of seemingly healthy children playing sports. They could one day save my life. By donating to SHOCKS, you would be helping us purchase and install AEDs in California schools. You could be saving a life." -Erin, alumnus from UC Berkeley










Please help SHOCKS save lives this summer.  Any donation will help us get closer to our goal of universal AED accessibility.  Most SCA episodes in youth happen in public.  Our youth deserve to go to school where they can be safe in the event of a cardiovascular emergency. Donations, which are tax-deductible, can be made here or through the SHOCKS website!




Website for SHOCKS: www.savingheartsofcakids.org




Thank you so very much for your support. Please share and help save lives!

Organizer

Anjali Doshi
Organizer
Aliso Viejo, CA

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