St. Mary’s County commissioners announced the installation of 13 secure Automated External Defibrillator cabinets at 12 county parks and the Garvey Senior Activity Center on October 7, 2025, to enhance public access to lifesaving equipment during cardiac emergencies. The initiative, led by the Department of Emergency Services in partnership with Recreation & Parks, Aging & Human Services, and Public Works & Transportation, aims to improve survival rates for sudden cardiac arrest by providing 24-hour access to AEDs in public spaces.
The cabinets replace a prior system where AEDs were kept inside staffed park offices, restricting availability to business hours. Now, in a cardiac emergency, individuals call 911 to receive an access code from dispatchers, allowing retrieval of the device before emergency medical services arrive. This change addresses the critical time gap in responses, which average eight to 10 minutes in the county depending on location and call volume.
According to the American Heart Association, more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States, with nearly 90 percent fatal. Data from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival indicates that public spaces, including sports fields and recreation areas, rank as the second most common location for these events. In St. Mary’s County, emergency medical services handle an average of 217 cardiac arrest calls each year. Early defibrillation can boost survival rates by 50 percent to 75 percent when an AED is on site.
Citizens are often the first to respond in a cardiac emergency, said Jen Utz, director of the Department of Emergency Services. This program empowers our community to take immediate action when seconds matter most and emergency responders are on the way.
The AEDs are housed in yellow cabinets attached to restroom buildings or similar structures for visibility and protection. Locations include Baggett Park, Cardinal Gibbons Park, Cecil Park, Chancellor’s Run Regional Park with three cabinets, Dorsey Park, Fifth District Park, Hollywood Soccer Complex, John G. Lancaster Park, Nicolet Park, Seventh District Park, St. Clements Shores Park, and the Garvey Senior Activity Center near the pickleball courts. These sites serve thousands of residents and visitors weekly for activities ranging from sports to community gatherings.
“Our parks and recreation spaces welcome thousands of residents and visitors each week, and safety is always our top priority”, said Ray Bivens, director of Recreation & Parks. Publicly accessible AEDs at our parks ensure that lifesaving tools are available when they’re needed most in the event of a cardiac emergency.
The effort aligns with October as National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, prompting the county to urge residents to learn CPR and AED operation. The Second District Volunteer Rescue Squad will offer a free community CPR class on October 24, 2025, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at its training room on 19330 Piney Point Road in Valley Lee. The session is limited to 15 participants, and registration requires contacting EMS Assistant Chief Kim Collins at EMSChief@sdvfdrs.org.
Additional training is available through the St. Mary’s County Health Department, which provides American Red Cross adult and pediatric First Aid, CPR, and AED certification. Classes are offered in in-person format lasting six hours or blended format with three hours online followed by three hours in person, with a maximum of 16 participants per session. The fee is $80 per person, with a sliding scale for those unable to pay full cost, and payment is accepted in cash, check, or credit card at check-in. Registration is required, though specific upcoming dates beyond the volunteer squad’s class are not detailed in current listings.
Automated External Defibrillators deliver an electric shock to restore normal heart rhythm in cases of ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia, common in sudden cardiac arrest. They include voice prompts to guide users, making them accessible to laypersons after brief training. Maryland law supports public access AED programs, with the state’s initiative dating back to 1999 legislation that authorized facilities to deploy the devices. In Southern Maryland, volunteer fire departments achieved 100 percent AED-equipped status early in the 2000s, marking one of the first regions in the state to do so.
Statewide, emergency medical services response times for cardiac arrests averaged 9.18 minutes in data from 2000, with regional variations from 7.4 to 11 minutes. More recent national studies show that only about 30 percent of cardiac arrest responses meet four-minute benchmarks in various communities, highlighting the need for bystander intervention. In 2024, the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival reported 137,119 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest events nationwide, underscoring the ongoing public health challenge.
Maryland requires AED programs in middle and high schools, a policy in place since the early 2000s to protect students during athletic events. Nearby Talbot County added a 24/7 accessible AED in downtown Easton in 2023, sponsored by local foundations. In St. Mary’s, a February 2025 ceremony honored individuals who used CPR to aid a resident in cardiac arrest, demonstrating community involvement in emergency response.
For further details on the AED initiative or training, contact the Department of Emergency Services at Emergencyservices@stmaryscountymd.gov. The county’s focus on preparedness reflects broader state goals, where survival from cardiac arrest drops 10 percent per minute without CPR, according to medical experts
