The Cleveland Browns will contribute $25,000 to University Hospitals’ (UH) AEDin3 Initiative as part of their “Month of Giving” in December.

The Browns are expanding their collaboration with UH, the Make Them Know Your Name Foundation (MTKYN), and Kaulig Companies to guarantee that schools in Northeast Ohio have the newest life-saving equipment and training in the event that an athlete experiences sudden cardiac arrest. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are essential to saving the lives of those who experience sudden cardiac arrest.

In accordance with the Cleveland Browns field project program, nine schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) will receive AEDs as part of a $25,000 commitment to help their Senate League football programs. The Browns’ field projects, which are geared toward various sports like football and soccer among others, provide assistance for these nine programs and act as a means of involving athletes and students in their local communities on a deeper level.

School athletic teams are urged to take part in the challenge by practicing getting AEDs to fields and other sports venue locations in less than three minutes. The goal of the challenge is to ascertain whether current AEDs are functional and capable of providing an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to restore an effective cardiac rhythm within three minutes of cardiac arrest. Schools in Northeast Ohio that are unable to complete the AEDin3 time constraint can receive free AEDs and training.

School athletic teams are urged to take part in the challenge by practicing getting AEDs to fields and other sports venue locations in less than three minutes. The goal of the challenge is to ascertain whether current AEDs are functional and capable of providing an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to restore an effective cardiac rhythm within three minutes of cardiac arrest. Schools in Northeast Ohio that are unable to complete the AEDin3 time constraint can receive free AEDs and training.

The AEDin3 Initiative aims to increase public awareness of the significance of promptly and effectively performing an emergency action plan. The three steps are to draft an emergency action plan, rehearse the plan, and administer an AED shock in no more than three minutes.

“When someone is going through sudden cardiac arrest, defibrillation with an AED and CPR are crucial to saving their life,” stated Robert Flannery, MD, an assistant physician for the Cleveland Browns and doctor at UH Drusinsky Sports Medicine. Flannery was a member of the group that worked to enact Ohio House Bill 47, which mandates the use of AEDs and training in public schools. “We are thankful for our Browns partnership; their donation will help expand UH’s AEDin3 program to access the need for AEDs and serve more student-athletes in Northeast Ohio.”

This July, UH, in collaboration with the Browns, MTKYN, and Kaulig Companies, launched the AEDin3 Initiative to ensure that schools around the region had the necessary life-saving technology. This is critical in sporting events because, according to the National Institutes of Health, almost 90% of the 350,000 people who suffer from cardiac arrest outside of a hospital each year will not survive. AEDs significantly improve survival rates.