Last October, the number of registered AEDs in the eight counties of Western New York was just 115 (left). The contest has now succeeded in growing that number more than ten-fold. The current tally is more than 1,200 (right) and it continues to grow daily.
UB’s AED Registration Contest Maps Over 1,200 AEDs
By UBNow Staff
Published April 11, 2025
Western New Yorkers have a better chance of surviving cardiac arrest outside a hospital today than they did just a few months ago. That’s because a Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences doctoral student launched a contest to locate and register more automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in the region.
Since the kickoff Oct. 16, when the number of registered AEDs in the eight counties of Western New York was just 115, the contest has now far surpassed its goal of 1,000 registered AEDs. The tally is currently at more than 1,200, and it continues to grow daily.
Powerful Grassroots Effort
“This contest proved how powerful grassroots efforts can be when the community comes together to make a difference,” says Rhonda Drewes, a doctoral candidate in the Jacobs School and contest organizer. “It’s incredible to see how the hard work of so many volunteers has led to such a significant increase in AED registrations, ultimately making our community safer.”
Drewes launched the contest with a social justice fellowship from the Jacobs School’s Office of Cultural Enhancement and Inclusion to identify and register AEDs, especially in areas of Western New York that are underserved.
The initiative involved crowdsourcing to identify and register locations of AEDs throughout Western New York. The goal is to make AEDs instantly searchable on map apps so that searching for “AED near me” will become as easy as finding the closest Tim Hortons.
On March 24, Jacobs School students, faculty and staff, community members and the founders of Cardiac Crusade gathered at the medical school to announce and celebrate contest winners.
The winners:
- First prize of $1,000: Matthew Cobler-Lichter, a Jacobs School MD candidate, who registered 394 AEDs.
- Second prize of $500: Larry Coon of Kenmore, who registered 231 AEDs.
- Third prize of $300: Karissa Garbarini, a PhD candidate in the Jacobs School who registered 126 AEDs.
Moriah Martindale, also a Jacobs School MD candidate, won the cleat signed by Buffalo Bills quarterback and NFL MVP Josh Allen for registering the most AEDs during the contest’s final weeks.
Rhonda Drewes (center), Jacobs School doctoral student, launched the contest to identify and register AEDs. Drewes was assisted by Nomi Weiss-Laxer, PhD, MPH, (left), clinical research scientist with UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and UBMD Emergency Medicine, and Heidi N. Suffoletto, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine in the Jacobs School.
Difference Between Life and Death
When someone experiences sudden cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating and blood is no longer pumped throughout the body. Nationwide, the survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is just 10%. However, when a shock from an AED is delivered within two minutes, survival rates increase to about 80%. If a shock is given within one minute, survival rates soar to about 90%.
Yet, in many cases, the challenge is not the absence of an AED but the inability to find one quickly. Knowing where the nearest AED is located can mean the difference between life and death.
The AED registration contest aimed to tackle this challenge head-on using an army of volunteers to register and verify AED locations, providing critical information to 911 dispatch systems at no cost and ensuring that emergency responders can guide bystanders to the nearest device without delay.
Dozens of local volunteers, including UB students, health care professionals, community members, Rotary Club members and others, joined forces to register new AED locations, verify existing entries and ensure accurate data. The data has been shared with Erie County’s 911 dispatch system, which will now have access to AED information, a critical improvement in saving lives in the region.
Key partners in the initiative are Leslie J. Bisson, MD, June A. and Eugene R. Mindell, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics and member of the first response team that provided on-field care for Bills safety Damar Hamlin when he suffered cardiac arrest in 2023, as well as the Jacobs School’s Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Orthopaedics, UBMD Emergency Medicine and UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine.
Leslie J. Bisson, MD, chair of the Department of Orthopaedics and Bills medical director, discussed how the effort began after he began studying the rates of CPR training in underserved communities.
Bisson started studying the data about cardiac arrest survival rates and CPR, and how often it’s performed by bystanders. If CPR is performed immediately, the chance of survival can double, even triple. But Black and Hispanic people are 41% less likely than white individuals to receive bystander CPR.
“I realized that our medical and athletic training team had a window of opportunity to help close that gap,” says Bisson, president and CEO of UBMD Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.
Initially, the goal was to train 3,000 people in CPR in Buffalo’s underserved areas, but through Bisson’s efforts with local partners, they’ve now trained more than 19,000 and are expanding into other counties.
Special guests at the March 24 event included Greg and Julie Coon, co-founders of Cardiac Crusade, which they started after Julie experienced — and survived — sudden cardiac arrest. Cardiac Crusade is the Jacobs School’s partner in registering and verifying AEDs with the PulsePoint app.
Other speakers at the celebration were Nomi Weiss-Laxer, PhD, MPH, clinical research scientist with UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, and UBMD Emergency Medicine, and NYS CARES member; Heidi N. Suffoletto, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine in the Jacobs School; Susan J. Burnett, paramedic and instructor, UBMD Emergency Medicine and NYS CARES member; and Justin King of the Buffalo/Rochester American Heart Association.