The Washington Police Department recently received seven new automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) to equip each of their officer vehicles as part of a statewide grant.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust awarded the Iowa Department of Public Health Bureau of Emergency and Trauma Services a $10.1 million grant to provide law enforcement officials and first responders throughout the state with more than 4,000 AEDs to improve cardiac arrest survival. Washington Police Chief Jim Lester says not only is it great that each of their patrol vehicles will be equipped with an AED, as they are often the first responder to a cardiac arrest event, but they will now be repurposing their four other AEDs, “The city’s safety director Keith Henkel will put those out, but I know one will go to the library so they will end up having two there, one will go out to the new wellness park and the other two will be given to other city locations where people gather such as Sunset Park, the pool, things like that. So that we have more availability for these AEDs to be used and available in the community.”

The grant is part of a three-year project aimed to equip every law enforcement vehicle in Iowa with an AED and train law enforcement professionals to deliver the best care prior to the arrival of Emergency Medical Services. The project will also equip conservation officers and staff at state parks with AEDs.