PeaceHealth installs four outdoor AEDs across Eugene-Springfield area

PeaceHealth installed four outdoor automatic external defibrillators across the Eugene-Springfield area, placing the lifesaving devices at sports sites where coaches, parents, athletes and other bystanders can reach them fast if someone collapses in cardiac arrest. The first Save Station went in at the Willamalane Sports Complex in Springfield, and the other locations are Hamlin Middle School, Lane Community College and the Babe Ruth Sport Complex in West Eugene.

At Hamlin, Springfield Public Schools said the new AED sits beside the Hamlin Sports Complex in an unlocked outdoor cabinet designed for public use. The unit is one of a dozen official SaveStation sites, and the cabinet is built with alarms, monitoring, interactive instructions in English and Spanish, and a small first-aid kit. PeaceHealth valued the installation at more than $9,000, underscoring how much equipment and infrastructure now goes into making a defibrillator available in the open.

The health case for the rollout is stark. In sudden cardiac arrest, survival can drop by roughly 10 percent for every minute that passes without a shock. That makes the difference between having a defibrillator on the wall near a field and waiting for EMS in the minutes that matter most. The sites were chosen because they serve youth and young adult sports, where a collapse can happen in front of families, teammates and spectators who need a clear, visible machine they can use immediately.

Eugene Springfield Fire and local governments have spent years trying to build a HEARTSafe community through awareness, education and partnerships, and the new Save Stations fit that broader effort. Earlier local reporting said the community was working toward becoming Oregon’s first Heart Safe community, with Eugene Springfield Fire estimating about 430 cardiac arrests a year in the area. In that same reporting, witnessed-cardiac-arrest survival had risen from 12 percent in 2010 to 59.1 percent more recently, a sign that faster response and wider access to AEDs can change outcomes.

If someone suddenly collapses and is not responding, the first steps are simple: call 911, send someone to fetch the AED, and start CPR if you can. Once the AED arrives, follow its voice prompts, expose the chest, and let the machine decide when to analyze and shock. The goal is to keep a life in play until paramedics take over, and these new outdoor devices are meant to make that possible at the fields where Lane County families spend so much of their time.

PeaceHealth’s work in the region has already reached beyond Eugene and Springfield. In May 2024, Eugene Springfield HEARTsafe donated an AED to the Upper McKenzie Community Center in Blue River, showing the push to place defibrillators where the public can find them is spreading across Lane County.