Ed Kosiec has joined the Sudden Arrest Foundation (SCAF) Board of Directors. Ed survived sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in 2019 at a Chick-Fil-A in South Florida thanks to the efforts of an 18-year-old high school student and restaurant employee who performed hands-only CPR, keeping Ed alive until paramedics arrived. This life changing event inspired Ed to create a nonprofit called Every Second Counts CPR. He also became a certified AHA CPR Instructor. His mission is to spread SCA awareness to everyone he meets, everywhere he goes.
With a small grassroots group of heart advocates, Ed went to the Florida State Capital and worked with the legislatures to create a bill that would require all high school students to learn CPR before high school graduation. This bill became a law for the state of Florida (HB157 & SB280).
In 2021, Ed created the “Great 48 CPR Tour” and traveled to the 48 contiguous states, teaching CPR in the streets in every single state. While visiting each state, Ed sought out nonprofit organizations and donated AHA CPR Anytime Kits. Distributing the kits has become an annual event. Ed seeks out nonprofit organizations in all 50 states and either visits them or sends them a kit to spread SCA awareness throughout the country.
In June 2021, during National CPR and AED Awareness Week, Ed launched an annual event in Washington D.C., called the National CPR and AED Awareness Rally & March. The focus is to bring heart advocates from across the nation together to speak in one voice and bring national attention to the importance of SCA, CPR, and use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs).
The next National CPR and AED Awareness Rally will take place on May 31-June 1 in Washington, D.C.
“The members of the SCAF Board are looking forward to the energy and commitment that Ed will bring to our group,” said Board Chair, Henry Jampel, MD, MHS. “Having met him for the first time at our recent board meeting, I am confident that he will inspire us to work even harder to achieve our mission.”