Drafter
Clerk 05/18/2017
Title
A MOTION authorizing the King County sheriff to accept a donation of one hundred fifty automated external defibrillators.
Body
WHEREAS, public safety and emergency medical services are among the most important services provided to King County residents and visitors, and
WHEREAS, at the beginning of 2012, Public Health - Seattle & King County and the King County sheriff's office worked in partnership to coordinate emergency medical and public safety services by equipping sheriff's deputies' vehicles with automated external defibrillators using emergency medical services levy funding, and
WHEREAS the partnership was able to acquire automated external defibrillators and equip seventy-eight vehicles, along with providing training for deputies and emergency dispatchers. Sheriff's deputies are available in the field and are able to respond to emergencies quickly and sometimes arrive at a scene prior to emergency medical personnel, and
WHEREAS, deputies participating in the automated external defibrillator program volunteered to receive this extra training and respond to medical emergencies, and communications specialists at the sheriff's office communications center took on additional duties and underwent specialized training to support the automated external defibrillator program, and
WHEREAS, deputies have since that time responded to many medical emergencies, and on numerous occasions, arrived at the scene first and employed their cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator skills and equipment, successfully saving multiple lives, and
WHEREAS, rapid access to effective emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury, and
WHEREAS, King County's regional partnerships and innovative deployment of automated external defibrillators contributes to achieving the nation's best cardiac arrest survival rate, which is now fifty-two percent, and the region's reputation as the best place in the world to survive a heart attack, and
WHEREAS, on March 6, 2017, a sheriff's deputy suffered a heart attack while on a driving-under-the-influence call and one of the deputy's partners had an automated external defibrillator unit in the trunk and was able to use it to save the deputy's life, and
WHEREAS, the sheriff has over the last few years carefully managed its budget to allow for expenditure on automated external defibrillators and now has two hundred eighty units in sheriff's office patrol cars, and
WHEREAS, the sheriff determined that the sheriff's office needs one hundred fifty more units, for a total of four hundred thirty units, to outfit every single patrol car in King County with an automated external defibrillator unit, and
WHEREAS, Sheriff Urquhart appeared on KIRO's Ron and Don radio program to raise money for the outstanding units, and the Snoqualmie Tribe made a donation of one hundred fifty more units, a donation that approximates one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, and
WHEREAS, the generosity of the Snoqualmie Tribe means that every sheriff's office patrol car in King County will be outfitted with an automated external defibrillator unit capable of saving someone's life who is suffering from cardiac arrest;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
The King County sheriff's office is authorized to accept the donation of one hundred fifty automated external defibrillators from the Snoqualmie Tribe.