Forsyth County pilot links AEDs, volunteers to speed cardiac arrest response

A Forsyth County resident who collapsed on a quiet July evening got help from the person next door, not just the 911 system. A trained neighbor living a block away was alerted through the county’s 4 Minute Community Program, brought an automated external defibrillator to the scene and delivered a shock before emergency crews arrived, a response county officials say is the point of the pilot.

The program links nearby AEDs to a network that can notify Cardiac Arrest Rapid Engagement, or CARE Team, volunteers when someone close by may need immediate help. Forsyth County says the pilot pairs citizen volunteers with Northside Hospital Forsyth, the Forsyth County Fire Department and Avive Solutions, the company behind the connected AED technology. County officials say Forsyth is one of only three communities nationwide selected to test the system.

The rescue happened on July 24, 2025, and Avive later described it as the first life saved in Forsyth County through the 4 Minute Community Program. That kind of fast intervention matters because cardiac arrest does not wait for an ambulance. The American Heart Association says more than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside hospitals each year in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts that figure at more than 356,000, with about 60% to 80% of victims dying before reaching the hospital. The American Red Cross says survival chances drop by about 10% for every minute CPR and AED use are delayed.

Forsyth officials have tried to build around that narrow window since the 4 Minute City effort launched on Aug. 10, 2023. The original partnership included Northside Hospital Forsyth, Forsyth County EMS, the sheriff’s office, Forsyth County Emergency Management Agency/911, Central EMS, the Cumming Police Department and the Forsyth County Healthcare Association. Northside Hospital later said 30 members of the county’s CARE Team were trained in the initial rollout, and county officials said each volunteer was equipped with a small mobile AED that 911 could dispatch to the scene. In August 2024, volunteers from Forsyth Community Clinic Inc. also joined the network.

The county has since said it plans to have 300 AEDs located throughout Forsyth County through the partnership with Avive, public safety departments, Northside Hospital Forsyth and Central EMS. The message behind the program is simple: when cardiac arrest strikes on a neighborhood street, survival can depend on whether a trained volunteer and a working AED are close enough to get there first.