Barron is the Director of Emergency Management for Eagle County where he has served for the last 22 months. Barron brings together stakeholders across the county to build a safer, more resilient Eagle County. His previous experience includes positions in state and local emergency management, disaster recovery, fire & rescue response, social work, and service in the U.S. Peace Corps. He holds a Master of Science in Public Health Systems from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on emergency management and humanitarian response. Barron is a recent recipient of the 2020 Eagle County Public Safety Award for Leadership.

Birch remarked, “There is nothing more important than empowering our friends, neighbors, and the entire community with the skills they need to save a life. It is an incredible privilege to serve on the Starting Hearts Board, and I am honored to be part of this amazing team. “

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The three Eagle County Rotary Clubs and Starting Hearts are co-hosting this first-ever virtual event to shine a light on our first responders and recognize them for the outstanding job they do. “The Rotary clubs are honored to recognize our well deserved first responders over the past years. We see this COVID virtual event as a great way to involve a large part of the community in this special recognition! Thanks to Starting Hearts for helping Rotary take this event to the next level.” stated Dwight Henninger, Vail Police Chief and Vail Rotary Club member.

The event will also be a fundraiser with proceeds going to Starting Hearts and the Eagle County Emergency Responders Fund (ECERF). “We work closely with our first responders to let them know we support them 24/7, like they support and protect our Community around the clock. We are excited to work with Starting Hearts to raise awareness and funding for our first responders,” said Bethe Wright, Executive Director for ECERF.

“It’s such an honor to partner with the three Eagle County Rotary Clubs this year to help celebrate such an important event. Our County’s EMS and First Responders do such amazing work each and every year to keep our communities safe, even at the risk of their own health and safety, and with COVID-19, at the risk of their families as well,” said Jackie Christiansen, Starting Hearts’ Director of Operations and Project Manager.

The public is invited to this free virtual event and we encourage all Eagle County residents and beyond to join us in cheering on our Eagle County’s finest first responders and frontline heroes. The event will feature awards, raffle prizes, a silent auction and entertainment from some of the county’s most popular musicians. Please register at www.startinghearts.org to receive the broadcast link.

About Rotary International

Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves. Our mission is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.

About Eagle County Emergency Responder’s fund (ECERF)

ECERF is a nonprofit organization that helps responders during times of crisis by assisting with basic needs and ensures community support to those who sacrifice so much for their communities. Our mission is to raise and manage funds for the benefit of Eagle County Emergency Responders and their immediate families during times of hardship or crisis. We also provide scholarships to students wishing to enter into a career in emergency response. ECERF benefits emergency responders and their family members of all Eagle County law enforcement agencies, fire agencies, ambulance service agencies, Vail Mountain Rescue, Vail Public Safety Communications, and Vail Ski Patrol

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Each partner in the collaboration has a unique role to play.  The initiative began with a proposal by Eagle County Emergency Management followed with generous financial underwriting by the Eagle County Public Safety Council for the first 210 STP kits placed throughout Eagle County.

Starting Hearts, an Eagle County nonprofit, placed the trauma kits in public buildings, schools, parks, and other locations throughout the county, utilizing existing on-site defibrillator cabinets for ease of access.  Each cabinet has a decal on its face indicating the availability of a trauma kit inside.  In addition, Eagle County purchased an additional fifty kits for placement in county government facilities and vehicles.  “We are so pleased to be working in cooperation with our local safety agencies to provide tools necessary to respond in emergency situations,” said Alan Himelfarb, Starting Hearts’ Executive Director.  “The Stop the Bleed program is a natural extension of Starting Hearts’ efforts to address our mission to save more lives.”

The Stop the Bleed Kits provide necessary items to help stop the bleeding in an emergency situation before professional help arrives.  STB kits contain items such as a C-A-T® tourniquet, compressed gauze dressing, latex gloves, and more. These kits are integrated as part of an emergency response system.   “We owe it to our families and our community to know how to respond to life-threatening bleeding and have the necessary tools close at hand,” said Birch Barron, Eagle County Emergency Manager. “Nobody can predict when and where an accident might occur, but you can make a difference.”

To bring the initiative full circle, Vail Health is taking the lead in providing hands-on instruction to individuals, with currently twelve instructors that include physicians, physician assistants, registered nurses, and EMTs.  The instructors are registered with Stop the Bleed and adhere to the guidelines set by the ACS. The class includes an educational lecture and practical skills using training materials specially developed to teach bleeding control techniques. The instructor checks movements as participants practice three different bleeding control actions.

Several states in the U.S. have already enacted legislation to educate, inform, and empower citizens to become immediate responders in a bleeding emergency. In some states, this legislation includes training in schools and providing kits for schools and public places, and the Colorado Trauma Network is currently pursuing this in Colorado. The team at Vail Health will be engaged in this effort at a state and regional level and is committed to being a leader in Stop The Bleed education for Eagle County and beyond.

“In a mountain community like the Eagle River Valley, this training is vital, as uncontrolled bleeding after injury is the number one cause of preventable death from trauma,” said Elizabeth Kruger, MSN, Trauma Program Manager at Vail Health. “People here are extremely active in outdoor pursuits. From skiing to hunting, there is a higher percentage of lacerations than in other more urban settings, and this training can help save a life.”

About Eagle County Emergency Management

Emergency Management works to protect lives and property in Eagle County through effective emergency management practices and procedures. The office coordinates with local response agencies to prevent, prepare for, mitigate, respond to and recover from natural human-caused emergency situations.

About Eagle County Public Safety Council

The Mission of the Eagle County Public Safety Council is to work together to promote health and safety in Eagle County. This is done by fostering interagency relations, communication, cooperation and coordination through practice and planning, sharing lessons learned and maintaining standardized response activities.

About Starting Hearts

Starting Hearts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Avon, CO.  Our mission is to save the lives of sudden cardiac arrest victims through free CPR and defibrillator education, widespread distribution of lifesaving defibrillators everywhere in public, activation of citizen first responders, and broad stakeholder cooperation in the communities we serve. Our organization is now expanding programs through affiliations across Colorado and encourages interested parties to contact us.

About Vail Health

Vail Health is a nonprofit community health care system with 12 locations across Eagle and Summit counties. Vail Health offers a 56-bed hospital, 24/7 emergency care, helipad, urgent care clinics, cancer care, breast centers, cardiovascular services, surgery, childbirth, physical therapy, primary and specialty care, and more. Locally operated and governed by a volunteer board of directors, Vail Health has committed $60 million to Eagle Valley Behavioral Health. For more information, visit www.vailhealth.org.

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Whether it’s making someone smile, helping a neighbor or stranger out, showing up for an issue or people we care about, or giving some of what we have to those who need our help, every act of generosity counts and everyone has something to give.

Tune in and learn how Starting Hearts is responding to the current pandemic environment

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Starting Hearts is asking for financial giving from our supporters, partners, friends and local community. COVID-19 fears are keeping a lot of people from hospitals and calling 911 for fear of possible infection of the coronavirus. Additionally, the COVID-19 virus can have a direct impact on an individual’s normal heart function, making them more susceptible to sudden cardiac arrest. This means now more than ever that the public needs to be prepared with life-saving skills.

As most of you are aware we are working diligently to help and provide where needed most – with an online, interactive education training program. As most of you know, we are working with an amazing company, called Connect for Education (C4E) to do this. There is a significant cost involved and we must raise funds to cover it. Our focus of this #GivingTuesdayNow Campaign is to raise these funds for this much needed program.

As we are a small team, we need everyone’s participation in helping this event become a success! Please do the following to help spread the word about Giving Tuesday Now to your contacts and community:

1. Mark your calendar for this Tuesday, May 5th, 2020 and get ready for the most epic #GivingTuesdayNow,
2. Use the attached emails/posts/verbiage for your own emails, texts and social media posts, and be sure to tag @startinghearts.
3. Share our Donation page on all of your posts: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/starting-hearts-giving-tuesday-now.
4. Share Starting Hearts’ social media posts:
   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startinghearts/
   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startinghearts/

Thank you for your participation and let’s make this a great Giving Day for Starting Hearts!

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Respond to a Sudden Cardiac Arrest Victim

Do you know where your Nearest Defibrillator is?

New York Hospitals are now telling EMS agencies to not take Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) victims to the hospital, saying that if they can’t get a pulse from a cardiac-arrest patient at the scene, they shouldn’t transport them to the hospital as is normally advised. The directive was sent out by the Regional Emergency Medical Services Council of New York, which oversees the city’s ambulance services.

After reading this, it can’t help but make you think how this news may impact other hospitals across the nation that are being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. It’s always best to be proactive in situations, especially when it comes to our health and that of others.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest occurs when the heart’s electrical system abruptly malfunctions, and the heart suddenly stops beating normally. SCA is often confused with a heart attack, which typically happens when blocked arteries prevent blood from reaching the heart’s muscles.

Increased public awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, CPR training and access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs/DEFIBs) can save tens of thousands of lives each year.

According the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of the hospital each year and in one year alone, 475,000 Americans die from a cardiac arrest, and up to 80% of SCAs take place in homes. Treatment of SCA is a race against the clock. The combination of early, immediate CPR and defibrillation can double or triple chances of survival after cardiac arrest.

A defibrillator is a simple-to-use portable device that is used to shock the heart of a person suffering a SCA to return the heart to a normal rhythm and can be found in a variety of public settings – from schools to airports. Many have the misconception that they are used only by trained and lay emergency responders, but this is not so. The devices are user friendly and provide audible step-by-step instructions to the user and determines if a shock is needed, making them very easy for almost anyone to use.

One of the best ways to be prepared is to make sure that you know personally what you would do if someone near you collapsed from a SCA. Preparation is never underrated because it could literally mean the difference between life and death.

How can you help someone that may be experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest?

#1 Be prepared and #2 React quickly with a DEFIB device

Bystander intervention is key to better survival rates and outcomes and Starting Hearts encourages everyone to get educated.

Starting Hearts is here to help – we are a Colorado nonprofit organization, dedicated to saving the lives of sudden cardiac arrest victims through free and certification CPR and defibrillator education, widespread distribution of lifesaving public defibrillators, activation of citizen first responders, and broad stakeholder cooperation in the communities we serve.

Taking an online CPR/Defibrillator class has never been easier. In this current COVID-19 climate, Starting Hearts is working closely with the American Red Cross to do everything we can during these difficult times to provide a blended learning model for people to learn online from the comfort of their own homes, while complying with social distancing guidelines.

By successfully completing the online portion of the Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED or BLS blended learning course, you get a provisional certification valid for 90 days. Starting Hearts will then provide an in-person skills test within those 90 days, where upon successful completion, a standard two-year Red Cross certification will be issued.

Learn where your nearest defibrillators are and be prepared by downloading the free PulsePoint mobile app. PulsePoint provides immediate information to quickly locate and retrieve the nearest defibrillator when desperately needed most. Download the PulsePoint app now or visit the Starting Hearts Nearest Nearest Defibrillator Map for more information.

Ready to learn more? We are ready to help in every way possible with online education and defibrillator support. For more information or to arrange your online blended learning certification or recertifications, please contact Starting Hearts at 800.484.2550 and info@startinghearts.org.

Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay

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