[Georgetown, Del. - June 5, 2015] More than 100 Sussex County first-responders and health care professionals received honors recently for literally helping to breathe new life into cardiac patients who nearly died, but instead survived to see a new day – and join in the very celebration of life and heroism that saved them.

On May 26, 2015, the Sussex County Phoenix Club Awards Ceremony was held at the Frankford Volunteer Fire Company to recognize those who survived a near-death cardiac event and the men and women who helped to save them. Each year, nearly 420,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States, with bystanders and emergency responders facing the daunting task of trying to save those individuals from succumbing to death.

The Sussex County Ambulance Association and Sussex County EMS honored 20 cardiac arrest survivors and more than 125 people, including 115 responders and 12 emergency operations specialists, who helped saved those lives in 2014. Recipients each were presented with Phoenix awards, symbolic of the mythological bird that is reborn. The award and ceremony recognized those who participated in what the American Heart Association calls the “Chain of Survival” for a victim of cardiac arrest. This includes early notification by 911 dispatchers with instructions on how to perform CPR, early CPR and early use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), followed by early advanced care and transport to a cardiac care facility.

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