A Winona Area Ambulance paramedic wants to make it easier and quicker for a heart attack victim to get medical assistance.
  
Andrew Teska is spearheading an effort to create a local cellphone application that will allow persons trained in CPR to make it to a victim having sudden cardiac arrest, as well as to locate nearby AED (Automated External Defribrillator) equipment.
                 
Teska told a Winona Radio audience that members of the public who are trained in CPR will be able to sign up to take part.  Teska says the system will be activated by the Winona County dispatch center to alert people who have signed up to offer their services.

The first step in the program will involve paramedics going door-to-door at local businesses and public buildings to see where all of the automatic external defibrillators in the community are located.  That information will then be placed in a data base to become part of the "Project Helping Hearts" application.

The American Heart Association estimates that effective bystander CPR provided immediately can double or even triple a person's chance of survival.