Mayor Receives "Heart of Honor" Award

HAVE A HEART-Mayor Lee Brown poses with the "Heart of Honor" award, which he earned for his support of placing automated external defibrillators in City of Houston buildings. From L-R are Camille Patton, president of the Houston Heart Association Guild; Adrienne Slaybaugh, executive director of the Heart Association's Houston Division; Dr. James Grotta, Heart Association board president and neurology professor at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston; Mayor Brown; Bob Villareal, Operation Heartbeat committee member; John Gallagher, Medtronic/Physio Control; and Noah John Reiter, Rice University.

Houston Mayor Lee Brown recently received the "Texas Distinguished Service Heart of Honor Award" from the American Heart Association's Houston Division. The award acknowledges his support for the placement of automated external defibrillators in City of Houston buildings. The defibrillators are used in the event that someone is suffering from sudden cardiac fibrillation or has progressed to cardiac arrest. The defibrillators are smaller versions of the devices used by paramedics and health personnel to shock a person's heart back into a normal rhythm. The types of defibrillators being placed in city buildings are capable of being used by virtually anyone, including children old enough to read.

At present, there are 33 defibrillators in City of Houston buildings, and by the end of this month, that number will double, according to Dr. David Persse, Director of the City's Emergency Medical Services.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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