Two Days After Deployment, a Life Saved: How Northern KY's New Police AEDs Made the Difference

In early 2023, the Rotary Clubs of Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati launched a powerful initiative to equip every police cruiser in the region with automated external defibrillators (AEDs). The spark came in January 2023, when Steve King, then-President of the Rotary Club of Cincinnati, witnessed NFL player Damar Hamlin collapse on the field due to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Just two days later, King met with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office for a meeting, originally intended to discuss supporting their drone program.When it comes to sudden cardiac arrests (SCA), time is tissue: every minute without compressions and defibrillation reduces a person’s chance of survival. Police officers, often the first responders, play a crucial role in bridging the gap between a collapse and the arrival of EMS for subsequent care.

However, the focus of the meeting quickly shifted. Moved by what he had witnessed and by conversations with law enforcement, King and the Sheriff’s Office recognized a more urgent priority: addressing out-of-hospital cardiac arrests by equipping every Northern Kentucky police cruiser with an AED. With over 100 devices required to outfit every police department, the next challenge became finding the resources to fund such a vital deployment.
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That’s when two fellow Rotary Club members, Josh Vogel and Rocky Saconne, stepped in with a deeply personal connection to the cause. Years earlier, as a teenager, Josh had thrown a baseball pitch that struck Rocky’s son, Justin Saconne, in the chest, triggering sudden cardiac arrest. Tragically, Justin passed away on the field. No AED was available, and emergency services took 13 minutes to arrive. Despite the tragic loss, Josh and Rocky stayed in touch and later reunited to support this new effort through an initiative called Project Heart Restart.

Committed to helping with the funding, Josh reached out to Garren Colvin, CEO of St. Elizabeth Healthcare, to see if the hospital would support the initiative. Within an hour, Colvin responded. St. Elizabeth partnered with Christ Hospital, and together, the two institutions contributed funding to deploy 168 AEDs to 38 law enforcement agencies across six northern Kentucky counties into cruisers in November 2024.

Two days after the deployment, the life-saving impact of the initiative became strikingly real.

On November 15th, 2024, Officer Whitney Buerger of the Alexandria Police Department responded to a call where a man named Matt had collapsed at home. Matt’s partner, Jasmine, and her mother had already begun CPR and called 911. Officer Buerger, who had not yet received formal training on the newly-installed Avive AEDs, instinctively grabbed the device from her cruiser. She arrived within minutes and administered multiple shocks before EMS arrived. Thanks to the swift actions of Matt’s family, Officer Buerger, and the new AED, Matt survived and returned home to spend the holidays with his family.

Officer Buerger is a sudden cardiac arrest survivor herself. As a teenager, she experienced and overcame SCA, a full-circle moment that empowered her to save another’s life.

This initiative is a remarkable example of what happens when community members, law enforcement, healthcare providers, and those personally affected by tragedy unite for a common cause. The Rotary Clubs of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, in partnership with St. Elizabeth and Christ Hospital, turned heartbreak into hope, funding into action, and equipment into second chances.