Congress yesterday passed
the final fiscal year 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
Appropriations bill, which will increase funding for the Health Resources and
Services Administration’s Rural and Community Access to Emergency Devices
Program. The bill calls for appropriations of $2.526 million, the highest
funding level the program has received since 2005. The program provides funding to rural communities to purchase automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and provide training in their use and maintenance.
The bill will now go to the
President for his signature.
Butch Gibbs, a survivor of
sudden cardiac arrest and his wife Susie, from Humeston, Iowa, met in October with
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s office in Washington, D.C., to advocate for the funding
increase. The Gibbs have been tireless in their efforts to improve AED access in rural locations ever
since Butch’s life was saved in 2004, thanks to an AED acquired through this
program.
For more information about the program, see: http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/funding/aed.htm