UD recognized as HEARTSafe Campus

10:32 a.m., March 20, 2015--The University of Delaware is one of eight university campuses to be awarded the HEARTSafe Campus designation by the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation (NCEMSF).

Launched in 2013, the HEARTSafe Campus designation was developed to encourage and promote community awareness of the potential for saving lives with effective CPR and early defibrillation. 

Campus Stories

From graduates, faculty

As it neared time for the processional to open the University of Delaware Commencement ceremonies, graduating students and faculty members shared their feelings about what the event means to them.

Doctoral hooding

It was a day of triumph, cheers and collective relief as more than 160 students from 21 nations participated in the University of Delaware's Doctoral Hooding Convocation held Friday morning on The Green.

• Doctoral hooding
• Old Swedes
• Summer SAT, ACT prep
• 'Opus 13' pre-sale

UD's designation was announced earlier this month at the foundation's 22nd annual conference in Baltimore.

According to NCEMSF, the cornerstone of any HEARTSafe Campus is a vibrant campus-based emergency medical response organization.

HEARTSafe Campuses promote and support:

• Rapid response by CPR and AED trained first responders;

• Rapid public access to defibrillation;

• Early access to advanced care;

• Public CPR and AED training for the community; and

• Engagement in preventative cardiovascular healthcare activities.

NCEMSF, with support from the HEARTSafe communities, the American Heart Association and Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, developed the award program for colleges and universities with a specific focus on the awareness, training and safety of cardiac arrest emergencies. The intent of the program is to recognize campus-based EMS organizations and their communities and hold them out as examples to other campuses as a means to improve overall cardiac arrest care. 

To qualify for the award, UD completed and submitted a rigorous self-assessment and verification packet and fulfilled all required criteria to improve the chances that anyone suffering a sudden cardiac arrest will have the best possible chance for survival. 

This was a joint initiative involving the University of Delaware Emergency Care Unit (UDECU), UD's Department of Environmental Health and Safety, the UD Police Department, New Castle County Emergency Medical Services, UD's School of Nursing and Aetna Hose, Hook and Ladder Co.

UD received NCEMSF's HEARTSafe designation for a three-year period, from 2015-18, and was provided with parking signs and decals featuring the HEARTSafe logo.  

In 2013, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MIT EMS was the first organization to qualify for this award and also the first college to be labeled a HEARTSafe Community 

Additional information about the HEARTSafe Campus program can be found online.