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Clay County, MO Sheriff's Office: Life Saved with Avive AED 48 Hours Post-Deployment
In January 2026, Clay County, Missouri became the first county in the state to deploy Avive Connect AED®s across its Sheriff's Office - 63 units placed in patrol vehicles and Sheriff-run facilities spanning 410 square miles of city corridors and rural quadrants where ambulance response times can stretch 30 to 40 minutes. Two days after deployment, that decision saved a man's life.
On January 30th, 2026 Donlee McIntyre, 61, collapsed in his basement just after finishing a treadmill workout. His son heard the fall and called 911 while his wife started compressions. His daughter - an OB-GYN who happened to be on her way for dinner - continued CPR. Deputy Vargas was ten minutes away when the call came in. Upon arrival, he grabbed his Avive AED from the car - only the second time he'd held one, the first being training just days earlier. Vargas ran inside, placed the pads, and let the device guide him through shocks and compressions. Two shocks were administered. When EMS arrived, he scanned the device’s incident data QR code and sent Donlee's full cardiac record to the receiving hospital before the ambulance left the scene.
Donlee McIntyre made a full recovery - neurologically and physically. He is a father to two children, a grandfather to three grandchildren, and will celebrate his 39th anniversary with his wife this year.
The deployment that made it possible wasn't accidental. County leadership replaced their aging AED fleet with Avive units across every Sheriff's Office location: patrol vehicles, detention and booking facilities, the Rooney Justice Center, Children's Justice Center, Public Safety Building, Nurses Station, Law Enforcement Resource Center, Sheriff's CCW, Sheriff's Gym, and Transition Housing. They chose Avive for the REALConnect™ platform - a centralized dashboard that remotely monitors every unit's device health, battery status, use history, and GPS location - and for a device that, at 2.1 pounds, fits into a patrol vehicle or wall cabinet without adding to an already heavy load.
Why It Worked
Coverage by design.
Clay County Sheriff's Office has divided the county into four quadrants and assigned deputies to each. Allowing officers to be closer to calls and cut response times down while additional EMS support is on the way. Each officer is equipped with an Avive AED in their vehicle to use if needed.
A device built for high-stakes moments.
Deputy Vargas had seen the Avive AED only once before that night, during training. He didn't need more than that. Visual and audible instructions cut through the chaos of an emergency scene, guiding him through the response in real time - doing what training alone can't always guarantee.
Data that travels with the patient.
Facilities & Capital Director Donna Koontz knew before deployment that instant data transfer would matter. No cables. No manual downloads. A QR code scan from the Avive AED on-scene meant the hospital had Donlee's full incident data record waiting when he arrived.
Leadership that moved first.
County Risk Manager Christine Puls didn't wait for the old AED fleet to fail completely. As units began aging out, she asked the right questions, found Avive, and made Clay County the first county in Missouri to make the switch. She learned that the device had already been used in a real emergency just 48 hours later when she arrived at work the following Monday morning. Made visible through Avive’s remote REALConnect™ platform which provides remote fleet health monitoring, incident uses, and GPS locations of devices.
What Clay County Proves
Investing in first-responder AED programs isn't a long-term risk management strategy. It's an immediate one. For law enforcement agencies and government leaders evaluating cardiac response capability: the gap between EMS response times and survivable outcomes is real - and closeable. Clay County closed it.
See how Avive is equipping law enforcement agencies to respond to cardiac arrest — wherever it happens.
