We are now certified by Marin County EMS to operate as a Public Safety AED Service Provider. All of our personnel are now certified in CPR and the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AED). The Police Department has been working with the Fire Department to train officers in the use of Automated External Defibrillators in an effort to increase the likelihood of saving the lives of people who have sudden cardiac arrest.
We are not the primary responders to AED calls. The Fire Department is dispatched to handle calls of a person in cardiac arrest due to their level of medical training and the equipment they have at their disposal. The public may feel safer and secure in the knowledge that when they have a sudden cardiac arrest, their odds of living would increase because of the AED units in the patrol cars and the likelihood that there would be an officer nearby who could respond before the fire department and utilize the AED machine.
In November 2005, Sergeant Jonathan Bean was honored with a Jefferson Award from KCBS/KPIX for his off-duty volunteer service in the community teaching First Aid, CPR, and the use of an AED. Jonathan is a San Rafael PD Sergeant and heads our AED outreach and in-service First Aid, CPR, and AED training efforts. The Jefferson Award “In 1972, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard founded the American Institute for Public Service, a 501(c)3 public foundation, to establish a Nobel Prize for public and community service – The Jefferson Awards. The Jefferson Awards are presented on two levels: national and local. National award recipients represent a "Who’s Who" of outstanding Americans. On the local level, Jefferson Awards recipients are ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation of recognition or reward. To help identify and celebrate these "Unsung Heroes," the Institute developed a partnership in 1977 with Media Partners – local newspapers, television and radio stations. These Jefferson Awards Media Partners solicit nominations of volunteers who work to better their communities. Each Media Partner honors five to six Jefferson Awards winners. Over 8,000 grassroots winners have received local Jefferson Awards.” Jonathan is now among them. We are very proud of him for his service to the community in which he both lives and works.
Sergeant Bean also received several certificates of recognition from the California State Assembly, the United States Senate, and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, for Jonathan’s hard work and dedication in implementing the AED program in our department to help us better serve the community.
Our AED fund drive is going well. Seven AEDs, purchased with donated money, are installed in the main Police Facility and patrol cars. From City General Fund money, we outfitted the remaining patrol vehicles with AED equipment. The AED program is in addition to the Citywide Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) program that has installed AEDs donated by Kaiser Hospital in city facilities.
• The San Rafael Police Association very generously donated $3,000 to purchase an automated external defibrillator, which will be mounted in the lobby of the police station. The Chief was very pleased about their support of this program, especially since his office is right next to the lobby.
Any future donations could assist in covering the yearly training, recertification, and AED maintenance required to keep the AED units in operation.
To donate:
AED Donation Fund
Attn: Sergeant Jonathan Bean
San Rafael Police Department
P.O. Box 151560
San Rafael, CA 94915-1560