Heart House and Virtua Foundation Purchase AEDs for Camden, Burlington County

SNJ Today/February 28, 2018

The Heart House and Virtua Foundation have purchased 25 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) that can save more than 1,000 lives a day.

During National Heart Month, through a donation from The Heart House, Virtua Foundation has purchased 25 AEDs that will be distributed all throughout Camden and Burlington counties.

“The Heart House is honored to work with Virtua Foundation to provide Automated External Defibrillators to deserving community organizations,” said Sanford J. Gips, MD, FACC, FSCAI, managing partner of The Heart House. “Sudden cardiac arrest claims more than 1,000 lives every day and more than half of SCA victims have no prior symptoms. The widespread availability of AEDs has the ability to turn a tragedy into a life saved.”

AED are portable devices that send an electric shock through the chest to the heart that can potentially stop an irregular heartbeat, and allow a normal rhythm of the heart to continue. Giving CPR and using an AED can greatly increase a victim’s chance of survival.

“We are truly grateful to The Heart House and Dr. Gips for their commitment to keeping our community safe and healthy,” said Christina Mattison, senior vice president, Virtua Foundation.

For more information, or to learn more about supporting the AED program, contact Virtua Foundation at 856-355-0830 or vhf@virtua.org.

Thank You Letters

Dear Ms. Carter, Dr. Gips & Mr. Ginsberg,

Thank you for your generous gift of five AED’s donated to our organization. We consider it an honor to have been chosen to receive them. We are better equipped to serve the needs of our employees, students, guests and members should the need arise.

We will be installing these in our buildings soon and mounting the plaques proudly giving recognition to The Heart House and Virtua Foundation.

Please feel free to contact Gretchen Wilkins, Director of the Life Center, to arrange for classes on cardiac health, CPR training or any other classes you feel that our members would benefit from.

Thank you again!

Sincerely,

Rev. Russell Hodgins
Lead Pastor, Fountain of Life Center

Dear Mr. Ginsberg,

I am writing on behalf of the Faith Presbyterian Church in Medford, New Jersey. We would like to  express our sincere and deep gratitude for your generous donation of an Automatic External  Defibrillator. We are grateful that The Heart House along with The Virtua Foundation are reaching out into the community to help people who are in need of this type of intervention during a medical  emergency. We are blessed to know that should one of our members or preschool children have an emergency that we can be on the front line of helping them to survive.

We wish you all the best in The Heart House’s service to community and commitment to cardiac care.

With Gratitude,

Rev. Rebecca J. Gresham-Kesner
Faith Presbyterian Church