Project ADAM

_{https://www.projectadam.com/ProjectADAM}

Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam's Memory) aims to prevent sudden cardiac arrest in children and teens through education and life-saving programs.

Project ADAM is a national, nonprofit organization committed to saving lives through advocacy, education, preparedness and collaboration to prevent sudden cardiac death. Focused prevention training and education ensures schools and communities are not only equipped but also trained in prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Project ADAM began in 1999 after a series of sudden deaths among high school athletes in southeastern Wisconsin. Many of these deaths appear due to ventricular fibrillation, a condition in which the ventricles cannot pump blood into the body.

After Adam Lemel, a 17-year-old high school student collapsed and died while playing basketball, Adam's parents — Patty Lemel and Joe Lemel — along with David Ellis, a childhood friend of Adam's, collaborated with Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to create this program in Adam's memory.

Golisano Children’s Hospital is an affiliate hospital of Project ADAM partnering with the Lee County School District and Collier County Public Schools to provide AEDs in participating elementary and middle schools in the Southwest Florida area.

For more general information about kids safety visit: safekids.org

In 1999, a teenager named Adam Lemel passed out while playing in a high school basketball game. “During a break in the game, he just wasn’t very stable with how he was walking and he took one or two steps and just collapsed. This couldn’t be happening to him he was so athletic and so healthy,” said his father Joe Lemel.

Adam suffered cardiac arrest and didn’t make it. “There’s about a 2-3 minute window that you need to have an AED applied and shock given. The time it took to say someone call 911. Think of that in seconds when we need 2 minutes…it was just too late,” said Lemel.

The tragedy inspired Adam’s parents to start project ADAM, a nationwide initiative to ensure schools have AEDs. Thanks to the Lee Health Foundation, every Lee County school has a defibrillator. “They all have an AED, some have more than one. An AED you should be able to be reached within 2 to 3 minutes of cardiac arrest,” said Tina Fleming, Child Advocate at Golisano Children’s Hospital.

Once someone has cardiac arrest, their heart rhythm has gone haywire. The AED allows the electrical system to be re-shocked back into a normal rhythm. It’s easy to use and people are covered under Good Samaritan laws. “Once the AED gets there, it’s self-explanatory, you place the pads and you listen to the AED and It tells you what to do,” said Fleming.

The goal is to expand the program so there are AEDs in businesses throughout the county where kids congregate. You can learn more by searching for project ADAM on leehealth.org.

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Project ADAM

https://www.projectadam.com/ProjectADAM

Join us in making a difference through support and collaboration!

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