Cumberland County just got safer thanks to the lifesaving efforts of the Peyton Walker Foundation.
In partnership with the Downtown Camp Hill Association, the foundation opened Pennsylvania's first "SaveStation." It's an outdoor, weatherproof cabinet containing an automated external defibrillator, known as an AED.
The foundation will install it at Cornerstone Coffeehouse on Market Street, accessible for public use during heart emergencies, at any time.
"They have access to an AED to save someone's life," said Julie Walker, Executive Director of the Peyton Walker Foundation, "If someone is in cardiac arrest, you need an AED to shock the heart back to a normal rhythm."
Access to this type of equipment is vital, especially given that sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the United States.
“Without an AED, the chances of survival are dismal. Even with an AED and CPR, a lot of hospital cardiac arrests survival rates are less than 10%,” Walker adds, “We are trying to help save [lives] and increase the rates of survival from sudden cardiac arrest.”
The Peyton Walker Foundation launched after Peyton, a Cumberland County native, died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2013 at 19 years old. Since then, the foundation has fought for the enactment of Peyton's Law, aimed at educating parents and students about the prevalence of sudden cardiac arrest and the importance of EKG testing for young people.