HEARTS Act Signed Into Law

In the final weeks of December 2024, President Biden signed the HEARTS Act into law. This law was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives in September, and unanimously by the United States Senate in early December. The HEARTS Act creates a grant program to help schools across the country be better prepared to respond to a cardiac emergency. Up to 23,000 young people suffer a cardiac arrest each year, only 10% of people survive this traumatic event.  

The HEARTS Act creates a new grant program to provide schools with additional resources for CPR and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) training, the purchase of AEDs and related equipment and the development of cardiac emergency response plans. These plans can more than double survival rates from cardiac arrest by empowering people nearby to take action and call 911, start CPR and use an AED. In schools with AEDs, children who experience cardiac arrest are seven times as likely to survive as children in schools without AEDs.  

Grassroots advocates like you made this important piece of legislation law. Advocates from You’re the Cure made more than 75,000 connections with federal lawmakers in support of the HEARTS Act. You sent emails, made phone calls, and some of you even traveled to Washington, D.C. for in-person meetings.

The HEARTS Act being signed into law is a huge step forward in saving lives from cardiac arrest, there will still be more work to be done, but you’ve made a tremendous difference.