In June 2009, Emily Rose Adamczak was  an energetic freshman in high school.  She was active in four sports and loved life.  On the last day of high school classes while at a routine soccer practice on town fields, Emily collapsed due to sudden cardiac arrest.  There were no AED's on the fields, and because it was "just a practice", there were no EMT's on standby.  

There are over 400,000 people every year, in this country that suffer a cardiac event.  There is only an 11% survival rate.  That means that only 1 in 10 will survive a sudden cardiac arrest.  Those odds are unacceptable.

Emily collapsed at 7:35pm and at 9:05pm, I signed a piece of paper that said my little girl was not coming home; then I had to go home and tell 3 other children, including a 12 year old that watched her sister collapse, that Emily had passed away.  My life forever changed that day in June when my daughter took her last breath in my arms.

Since that time, I have become an American Heart Association CPR instructor and have developed a program that will teach high school students how to perform CPR as a bystander.  It is known as "Hands Only CPR" and is based on the AHA protocol.  Within 4 years, we have trained over 17,000 students at no cost to the school districts.  

The Emily Rose Foundation, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) organization whose mission is to provide "Hands Only CPR" training to schools, businesses, and community events; provide AED's to local sports fields and parks, and to provide a scholarship to a graduating high school student that is persuing a career in the medical or human services field.  We have also advocated for the passage of the CPR in Schools legislation which would require all high school students to learn CPR before they graduate.  When this legislation goes through, schools will have to find funding to provide this service to their students at a time when finances are already stretched to the limits.  We have the program.  We have the equipment and staff; we need the funding.

Currently, our goal is to continue to provide this service to schools at little or no cost.  Equipment has to be purchased to continue the trainings; instructors need to be compensated for their time, and AED's need to be purchased for local sports fields to protect our athletes.

Help us to continue serving our community by raising awareness about the importance of CPR by teaching our students and community and by providing life saving devices where currently there are none.  Enable us to teach our childen how to save a life; your life or that of your loved one may depend on it.

Your donations will be greatly appreciated.  The Emily Rose Foundation, Inc. is a non for profit organization that could use a hand.  When hands and hearts meet, only positive impacts can result.