Video of press conference on May 29, 2025
Erie County has officially been recognized as a HEARTSafe Community by the Citizen CPR Foundation, a national designation that highlights the county’s commitment to improving outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest through public education, emergency preparedness, and coordinated response.
To earn this designation, Erie County met 13 essential benchmarks, including a year-long effort to educate more than 15% of county residents – about 147,000 people - in hands-only CPR. Other criteria were related to increasing access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs), strengthening 911 dispatcher protocols, and building a system of rapid response supported by community partners, schools, local organizations and emergency medical services (EMS).
“On behalf of a grateful community, I thank every person who helped our county achieve the HEARTSafe designation, including everyone who learned CPR during the process. This designation reflects how we’ve created a safer community for our residents and guests, one that aligns directly with HEARTSafe community priorities,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “Our community partners, EMS providers, emergency preparedness staff and public health professionals have worked together to ensure that lifesaving skills like hands-only CPR and AED use are widely taught and accessible throughout the community. We are creating an environment where more people are ready to act, and more lives can be saved.”
Over the past year, key collaborators included the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Black Nurses, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Cardiac Crusade, Highmark, Project Play WNY, UBMD Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, and Erie County’s Live Well Erie, Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) programs have been foundational in aligning training, protocols and policy work with the HEARTSafe model.
“Earlier this year our organization announced that bystander confidence in being able to perform any type of CPR increased from 33% to 39%, representing 17.7 million more Americans,” said Tom Lowe of the American Heart Association. “Erie County has joined a growing movement to give people in their communities the knowledge, skills and confidence to call 911, push hard and fast in the center of the chest until help arrives, and know how to use an AED when faced with a life-threatening emergency.”
Hands-only CPR and AED training events were held at schools, workplaces, public spaces, and Buffalo Bills games. A major focus of the initiative was reaching underserved neighborhoods to reduce disparities in access to CPR education, AEDs and other response resources.
“We know that people in underserved communities want to be part of the solution but often face barriers to getting trained,” said Leslie J. Bisson, MD, president of UBMD Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine and June A. and Eugene R. Mindell Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo (UB), and medical director of the Buffalo Bills. “This effort was about meeting people where they are, breaking down those barriers, and making lifesaving training available to everyone. When the entire community is engaged and empowered, we can truly make a difference in survival outcomes.”
With this designation, Erie County joins a growing national network of HEARTSafe communities committed to reducing deaths from sudden cardiac arrest through prevention, preparedness, and public engagement.
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Citizen CPR Foundation HEARTSafe Community: https://citizencpr.org/heartsafe-community/
Erie County HEARTSafe: erie.gov/heartsafe
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