By Ann-Marie Lindstrom
Southwest Ambulance (a subsidiary of Rural/Metro) and the Glendale (Ariz.) Fire Department (GFD) recently made the Guinness Book of World Records for providing the world’s largest AED training. “It’s official,” says Josh Weiss, Southwest’s director of communications, calling the accomplishment “pretty cool.”
On July 29, 2006, GFD and Southwest, which hold the contract to provide EMS at the new Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, trained 1,039 stadium employees how to use a defibrillator. Global Spectrum installed AEDs throughout the stadium, and Southwest’s Project Heartbeat Public Access Defibrillator program coordinated the installation and training.