FARMINGTON, Minn. (Feb. 19, 2025) — Health Heart Safe Communities and Farmington Community Foundation (FCF) and the Allina Health Foundation are teaming up to improve access to life-saving tools in the growing community of Farmington, Minn. On Thursday, Feb. 20, FCF will donate its first automated external defibrillator (AED) to a restaurant off Highway 3 called Bourbon Butcher.
“We worked with Allina Health Heart Safe Communities and the Farmington Police Department to help us determine which areas could best benefit from an AED,” said Eric Snyder, FCF’s executive director. “We focused on high-traffic areas, and the Bourbon Butcher seemed the perfect fit.”
An estimated 350,000 people in the United States experience cardiac arrest outside of a medical facility. Three things can improve survival rates: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), an AED and CPR/AED training. An AED typically ranges in price between $1,400 and $2,500. Even if a private business can absorb that expense, they still need to make sure someone knows how to use it. With that in mind, FCF partnered with the Allina Health Foundation and Heart Safe Communities.
Renee Hamdorf, a Heart Safe Community specialist with Allina Health, helped facilitate the purchase of the AED and will provide AED and hands-only CPR training to volunteers at Burbon Butcher.
“We want as many people as possible to learn CPR, and the hands-only approach is easy. It removes concerns about doing mouth-to-mouth,” said Hamdorf. “I help people learn the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest. I teach them to recognize the signs of both, and I show them how to use the AED. As a former firefighter, when I’ve seen people survive and thrive after cardiac arrest, there was usually someone performing CPR on them and using an AED in the minutes before the arrival of emergency crews.
“The goal of Farmington Community Foundation is to do good things. This AED project provides life-saving tools to the community, but it also teaches our citizens how to help each other, and possibly save lives,” said Snyder.
Allina Health is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of illness and enhancing the greater health of individuals, families and communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. A nonprofit health care system, Allina Health cares for patients from beginning to end-of-life through its 90+ clinics, 12 hospital campuses, 13 retail pharmacies, and many specialty care centers and specialty medical services, home care, and emergency medical transportation services. Learn more at allinahealth.org and join us on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.