Skip To Main Content

Heart Safe Community Partners

Heart Safe People 1 Photo

Thompson School District is proud to partner with local leaders through the "Heart Safe Community" project.

The McKee Medical Center Foundation has partnered with McKee Medical Center, the CardioVascular Institute of North Colorado, Thompson Valley EMS, the Loveland Police Department, Loveland Fire Rescue Authority and the city of Loveland's dispatch services department, to become a designated “Heart Safe City.” Tom and Julie Kruit, parents of a high school student and baseball player whose life was saved thanks to the use of an AED, are also part of the partnership.

Ways to become involved with the Heart Safe Community initiative: 

  • Attend our special events that proceed this campaign
  • AED Application for your organization/business
  • CPR Training through Thompson Valley EMS
  • Contact the Foundation at (970) 820-4001 to make a contribution

The “Heart Safe Community” designation, sponsored by the American Heart Association, is a communitywide effort to educate citizens on the dangers of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). Identifying symptoms, learning how to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and using automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are major components of the “Heart Safe City” designation.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States, claiming over 325,000 lives each year. Brain death begins to occur in just four to six minutes after cardiac arrest. Chances of survival are reduced by 7 to 10 percent with every minute that passes without CPR and the use of an AED.  If more people were educated in CPR, and AEDs were more widely available in our community, survival rates could be as high as 50 percent.

The “Heart Safe Community” initiative calls for the placement of AEDs in public gathering spots throughout the city of Loveland. Placements include shopping malls, swimming pools, schools, grocery stores, theaters, museums, golf courses and police cars. These easy to use AEDs are equipped with simple step-by-step user instructions and will be maintained by Thompson Valley EMS.

Thompson Valley EMS is asking anyone in the community who has an AED device on the premises to contact Paramedic Tim Zimmerman at (970) 775-7126. TVEMS will add the location of the device into its database and will conduct regular checks to ensure the device is functioning properly.

Heart Safe Partners Image