Campbell County will be the first district in Northern Kentucky to provide defibrillators at its schools, according to Northern Kentucky EMS, a nonprofit group.

        The 4,600-student district has been selected by the group to participate in a pilot program to bring defibrillators to the classroom. It is modeled after programs in New York and Pennsylvania.

        The family of a Pennsylvania boy who died during a high school basketball game has donated one of the three units to go to Campbell County Schools.

        “We are trying to be one of the ground-breaking districts,” said Chris Gramke, community relations director for the district. “Research has shown having such medical instruments available can save lives.”

        Each year, 300,000 to 400,000 people die from cardiac arrest, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Most of these deaths occur outside hospitals.

        Cardiac arrest is often due to chaotic beating of the heart, which can be restored to normal rhythm if treated promptly with defibrillation.

        OSHA says placing defibrillators in the workplace could increase survival rates.

        In 1999 and 2000, 815 of 6,339 workplace fatalities reported to OSHA resulted from cardiac arrest.

        The federal government has estimated that defibrillators could save as many as 120 lives nationwide each year.

        A new generation of defibrillators, called automated external defibrillators (AEDs), can be used by trained lay rescuers.

        The units retail for $3,500 to $3,800.

        A preliminary plan calls for placing a defibrillator at Campbell County High School; the middle school, where the district's varsity football field is; and with the athletic department. Mr. Gramke said officials decided to place two defibrillators at the middle school and high school because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not developed protocols for use of defibrillators on children younger than 8.

        Laura Randall, director of Northern Kentucky EMS, hopes to add similar programs at Boone and Kenton county schools.

        She wants to establish a foundation to solicit donations and grants for defibrillators in schools. The federal government has provided funding to schools located in more rural counties, such as Grant and Pendleton, to purchase AEDs.

        The Campbell County district's high school in Alexandria is 15 to 20 minutes from the closest hospital, St. Luke Hospital East in Fort Thomas.

        Not only does OSHA encourage defibrillators in the workplace, Mrs. Randall said, institutions can be sued for not making them available.

        The Olmsted Falls (Ohio) School District is being sued after a 14-year-student collapsed in cardiac arrest during gym class, according to the National Center for Early Defibrillation, a nonprofit group based at the University of Pittsburgh.

        The lawsuit filed on May 24 seeks $2.5 million in damages, claiming the school was negligent for not having a defibrillator, according the Pennsylvania group.

        One of Mrs. Randall's goals is to educate the community on the importance of having defibrillators in public places.

        “Our goal is to have these on hand like you would a fire extinguisher,” said Mrs. Randall, a registered nurse for 30 years. “We don't want to have to have a student die before people recognize the importance of AEDs.”

        After Gregory Moyer, 15, died in December 2000 after collapsing at a high school basketball game in East Stroudsburg, Pa., his family began lobbying the Pennsylvania Legislature and distributing literature about kids' deaths and the need for defibrillators in schools.

        That played a role, Mrs. Randall said, in passage of a bill in Pennsylvania that provided for state reimbursement for half the cost of defibrillators placed in public schools.

        Rachel Moyer, Gregory's mother, said, “We don't want to have any other family wonder if an AED would have saved their child's life. This has given us a purpose and allowed us to do something in our son's memory. We strongly believe these are as important as having a computer and dictionary.”

        E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com

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