To raise awareness and promote education about the use of AEDs (automated external defibrillators) in our schools, Winthrop-University Hospital’s “Long Island Miracles” Advocacy Group, the Long Island Chapter of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, will offer a free lecture, “Legislation and the AED,” on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at 7:00 PM. It will be held at Winthrop’s Community Outreach Center, located at 101 Mineola Boulevard, at the corner of Second Street in Mineola, and will be of special interest to parents of high school athletes.

Karen Acompora of the Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation will explain the current and proposed legislation concerning the presence of AEDs in schools. She will highlight the John Miller HEARTS (Helping Everyone Access Responsive Treatment in School) Act, which proposes to establish a grant program through the Department of Education that will provide schools with funds for lifesaving AEDs and AED/CPR training. To illustrate the value of AEDs, Mrs. Acompora will bring with her a young survivor who is alive today because of the AED. A question and answer period will follow.

According to the American Heart Association, sudden cardiac arrest is a major health problem; it kills more than 300,000 people each year in the United States. It is also the leading cause of death in exercising young athletes. In some of these cases, an AED may have saved a life.

For further information or to reserve a seat, please call (516) 663-3889 or e-mail:

longislandmiracles@suddencardiacarrest.org.