Yesterday Friendship Ambulance was notified the organization was again the recipient of this year's CARES Award for actively participating in the Pennsylvania Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES). Friendship Ambulance is one of 145 EMS agencies in the Commonwealth recognized during October in observance of Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month.

Pennsylvania CARES is a statewide partner of the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES), a national cardiac arrest registry that allows communities to measure bystander and 911 response, including information about bystander CPR and AED application, telephone CPR, and EMS response. Using this information, EMS agencies can discover promising practices and implement new programs to improve emergency care for patients in their communities, and participation in a national registry is recommended by the Institute of Medicine.

Recipients of this year’s Pennsylvania CARES Award successfully participated in the registry for the 2018 calendar year and are commended for collecting data, in collaboration with and on behalf of BLS, first responder, and community partners, to measure outcomes, improve the quality of care, and save lives.