The HEARTS Act passes Congress unanimously!

On the evening of December 10th, the United States Senate passed the Cardiomyopathy Health, Education, Awareness, Research, Training in Schools (HEARTS) Act Unanimously. The House of Representatives passed the HEARTS Act unanimously in September. This means that this life saving legislation will be heading to the President’s desk to be signed into law!

More than 350,000 people suffer an out of hospital cardiac arrest each year, as many of 23,000 of those people are children. Roughly 10% of people survive this tragic event. When someone nearby starts CPR and uses an automated external defibrillator (AED), they can double or triple the chances of survival. In schools with an AED, the chances of a child surviving a cardiac arrest jump up to 70%! The HEARTS Act will help schools purchase and maintain AEDs, train staff and volunteers on CPR, and help schools plan for cardiac emergencies.

This bill will save lives! Over the last 18 months, you and over 60,000 of other You’re The Cure advocates have contacted your Senators and Representatives calling for these lifesaving policies to become law. You’ve sent emails, you’ve made phone calls, you’ve shared news about these bills with your friends and family, you’ve visited your elected officials in person, you’ve shared your stories in the media: You’ve made this possible!

This is a huge victory in our work to double the chance of survival from cardiac arrest by 2030 and create a Nation of Lifesavers. There will still be more work to do to save lives from cardiac arrest at the state and federal level, but this is a major victory.