LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to
proclaim May 31, 2011 as Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Day in the
State of New York

WHEREAS, The State of New York takes great pride in recognizing serious
health concerns, proclaiming official days to increase awareness of such
concerns, which affect thousands of New Yorkers; and
WHEREAS, Nationwide more than 325,000 Americans die each year from
sudden cardiac arrest, the equivalent of 900 people per day, or one
person every 90 seconds; and
WHEREAS, More Americans die each year from sudden cardiac arrest than
from breast cancer, lung cancer, and HIV/aids combined; and
WHEREAS, The mortality rate of sudden cardiac arrest is approximately
95 percent; two-thirds of sudden cardiac arrest deaths occur in people
without any prior indications of heart disease; and
WHEREAS, Sudden cardiac arrest causes the brain to begin dying within
four to six minutes of onset; for every minute that passes while a
person is experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, chances of survival
decrease by 10 percent; after six minutes, according to studies
conducted by the Mayo Clinic, the chance of resuscitating a sudden
cardiac arrest victim is almost zero; and
WHEREAS, While sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of
death in the United States, Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) can
prevent these deaths; AEDs enable medical and non-medical rescuers to
deliver a potentially lifesaving defibrillation to sudden cardiac arrest
victims; and
WHEREAS, The federal government has already mandated every commercial
airplane to have an AED on board and some states have mandated they be
placed in certain other locations, such as health studios; and
WHEREAS, Since a sudden cardiac arrest event is 30 times more likely
to occur in a school than on an airplane, New York may be justly proud
it requires that AEDs be available in every New York State public
school, saving many lives; and
WHEREAS, On any given day, 20 percent of the population, both adults
and children, occupy our nation's schools; an estimated 3,000 to 5,000
school-aged children and one out of every 100,000 to 300,000 high school
athletes die each year from sudden cardiac arrest; and
WHEREAS, Education, training, and preparedness are critical factors in
the ability to successfully save the life of a sudden cardiac arrest
victim; the national sudden cardiac arrest survival rate without defi-
brillation and CPR is less than five percent; in communities with strong
public access defibrillation programs, the sudden cardiac arrest
survival rate, when defibrillation and CPR are provided within the first
three minutes, rises to 75 percent; and
WHEREAS, This Legislative Body recognizes the critical importance of
increasing the survival rate from cardiac arrest and of incorporating
the tools of CPR, Public Access Defibrillation, and Automated External
Defibrillation into aggressive programs in order to save thousands of
lives each year; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim May 31, 2011, as Sudden
Cardiac Arrest Awareness Day in the State of New York to educate the
public about sudden cardiac arrest, to identify those at risk, to honor
the memory of those who have fallen victim to sudden cardiac arrest, and
to celebrate those who have survived by the timely use of an Automated
External Defibrillator and cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and be it
further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New
York, and to the Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation, Northport, New
York.