The Salem Fire Foundation (SFF) is a private, nonprofit 501c 3 organization dedicated to assisting the Salem Fire Department to achieve its core mission of saving lives through the funding of the following programs:
• Community Outreach and Citizen Engagement in CPR and Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) training
• Fire Prevention and Risk Awareness
• Service Enhancements
• Employee Recognition and Development
• Assistance to Injured Firefighters and their families
• Special projects
Mission:
The mission of the Salem Fire Foundation is to promote community support for the Salem Fire Department. Vision:
Our vision is to enhance public safety and the quality of life in our community by increasing cardiac survival rates for community members that experience a sudden cardiac arrest. The Problem: Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Sudden Cardiac arrest kills more than 383,000 Americans each year. That’s more than 1000 per day! When sudden cardiac arrest occurs, the heart stops abruptly, without warning. For every minute that elapses, the chances for survival diminish by 10%. Nationally the save rate for all cardiac arrest events is 9.5% the save rate nationally for a witnessed sudden cardiac arrest is 29.5% however medical evidence suggests that more than 50% could survive. Our First Project:
The foundation's first major project is to significantly improve the sudden cardiac arrest survival rates in Salem. As of November 2014, our save rate is 37.5% for a witnessed sudden cardiac arrest. When compared to the national average of 29.5% the Salem area exceeds the national numbers, however recent medical research indicates that it’s possible to have to save rates in excess of 50% for these types of events if the right training and tools are in place. There are communities in the U.S. that are currently experiencing witnessed sudden cardiac arrest save rates of 63%. Our vision is for the Salem area to have the highest cardiac save rate in the nation within the next ten years. In order to achieve that goal, we need to better equip our community with the right tools (AED’s) and the right training for CPR. Community engagement will be a key component in achieving the highest cardiac save rate in the nation. Studies show that bystander CPR and activation of an AED to deliver the life-saving shock more than triples your survival chances during a sudden cardiac arrest. For every minute that passes without CPR and AED intervention, your chance for survival drops 10%. At six minutes without intervention, irreversible brain damage occurs. The Salem Fire Department has implemented a free smartphone app to assist with citizen engagement for CPR notifications it’s called Pulsepoint more information can be found at the following link http://www.cityofsalem.net/Departments/Fire/Pages/SalemAreaPulsePoint.aspx
Phase One: Tools
The first phase of our project is to raise $160,000 to purchase an additional 110 AED’s. Sixty of these AED’s will be placed in our Salem police department patrol cars and the remaining fifty AED’s will be distributed into Salem area businesses as public access AED’s. Phase Two: Training
The second Phase entails teaching CPR to all eight grade students in the Salem area.
16,000 8th graders and parents are now trained in CPR and AED since the program's inception. In February 2015 the Salem Fire Department will again offer CPR / AED classes to community members twice monthly on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month. A nominal fee of $15 per student will be charged to cover the cost of materials and the instructor. Call 503-588-6245 to sign up for a CPR /AED training class. How can you help? The Salem Fire Foundation is seeking charitable contributions to support initiatives that will significantly improve survival rates in Salem for sudden cardiac arrest. Salem Fire Foundation was established and incorporated on November 12, 2014
