HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration announced in the April 22 Federal Register the availability of approximately $12.5 million in grants for rural communities to buy and learn how to use automated external defibrillators.  Defibrillators can help save the lives of people who have heart attacks far from a hospital.

The grant program, created by the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act of 2000 and managed by HRSA’s Office of Rural Health Policy, will require recipients to buy FDA-approved automated defibrillators and provide training on their use through the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross or other nationally recognized training courses.
 
Eligible applicants include:
 

• community partnerships in eligible rural counties, as listed on the Office of Rural Health Policy Web site;
• local first-response organizations, such as emergency medical services, fire and rescue and law enforcement units; and
• local for-profit and non-profit groups that have a demonstrated concern about cardiac arrest survival rates.  These include community hospitals or clinics, nursing homes, athletic facilities, faith-based organizations and schools.
  
  

HRSA expects to award about 50 grants of varying amounts.  Applications are due by June 18; awards will be announced in late August.
 
Application kits are available from the HRSA Grants Application Center at 901 Russell Ave., Suite 450, Gaithersburg, Md. 20879; phone: 1-877-HRSA-123; fax: 1-877-HRSA-345; e-mail: hrsagac@hrsa.gov.  Please refer to program announcement number HRSA-03-088 when requesting an application kit.  For more information on the Rural Access to Emergency Devices Grant Program, contact Evan Mayfield at (301) 443-0835; fax (301) 443-2803; email: ruralems@hrsa.gov.