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Business & Economy

Program Aims To Put Defibrillators In Churches

WUNC | By Gurnal Scott
Published August 8, 2012 at 5:00 AM EDT
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Several state organizations are banding together give churches the tools to save lives.

Gurnal Scott: State Representative Becky Carney of Charlotte will never forget April 2nd, 2009, the day a portable defibrillator revived her after a near-fatal heart attack at the General Assembly

Rep. Becky Carney: One story can propel a great movement within a community.

That story inspired the "Strive to Revive" program which seeks to distribute the life saving equipment. Now the program is going statewide with churches as its target. Baptist minister Jerome Washington says quickly aging congregations show this effort makes sense.

Rev. Jerome Washington: Approximately 104 worshipers a year will suffer sudden cardiac arrest while worshiping in American churches.

A coalition, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, the American Red Cross and the North Carolina Council of Churches plans to outfit 150 churches with portable defibrillators over the next three years. With it will come CPR training for congregation members.

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Gurnal Scott
Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
See stories by Gurnal Scott
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