Poudre Fire Authority Achieves Designation as HEARTSafe Community

June 10, 2026

Fort Collins, Colorado — June 1, 2026 — Poudre Fire Authority (PFA), serving the City of Fort Collins, Timnath, Bellvue, LaPorte, and unincorporated Larimer County, has been designated a HEARTSafe Community through the Citizen CPR Foundation’s nationally recognized HEARTSafe Community initiative. The designation recognizes communities that demonstrate a coordinated, measurable, and sustainable commitment to improving survival from sudden cardiac arrest.

Serving more than 200,000 residents across approximately 230 square miles, PFA earned the designation through a comprehensive, collaborative effort that brings together emergency response, healthcare, education, government, philanthropy, and community organizations to strengthen every link in the cardiac arrest chain of survival.

The HEARTSafe Community designation recognizes excellence in key areas including bystander CPR education, public access defibrillation, emergency dispatch performance, responder readiness, clinical quality improvement, public awareness, and long-term sustainability.

PFA’s HEARTSafe initiative grew following participation in the Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit and has evolved into a highly integrated community effort involving partners including the City of Fort Collins, Colorado State University, UCHealth, Poudre School District, Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority (LETA), Fort Collins 911, and many additional community organizations.

“Poudre Fire Authority exemplifies what a modern HEARTSafe Community should look like. This designation reflects far more than a strong emergency response system. It represents a community-wide commitment where public safety agencies, healthcare systems, schools, universities, dispatch professionals, policymakers, and citizens are working together toward a shared mission of improving survival and quality of life after sudden cardiac arrest. The breadth of collaboration and intentionality demonstrated here is truly impressive.”
— Richard Shok, HEARTSafe Community Program Director

Evidence-Based Resuscitation and Continuous Quality Improvement

A defining strength of PFA’s HEARTSafe initiative has been its commitment to evidence-based resuscitation practices and continuous quality improvement. Under medical direction from Dr. Darren Tremblay beginning in 2018, the Authority implemented a standardized approach to cardiac arrest care designed to maximize chest compression fraction, minimize interruptions, and optimize team performance during resuscitation. These changes were associated with measurable improvements in cardiac arrest survival within two years.

The Authority’s cardiac arrest quality management system integrates electronic patient care reports, monitor data, and emergency dispatch recordings to conduct detailed case reviews and analyses. Findings are translated into actionable metrics and visualized through advanced reporting platforms that guide protocol refinement, training priorities, and system improvements.

“During the HEARTSafe review, what stood out most was the sophistication of the system and the clarity of ownership behind each initiative. This is a community that understands that saving lives from cardiac arrest requires intentional design, rigorous quality improvement, and broad partnerships. From dispatch to schools to frontline responders and university partners, PFA has built a system that is both innovative and sustainable.”
— Brandon Oto, PA-C, HEARTSafe Program Advisor and reviewer

Community Preparedness, Education, and Youth Engagement

Community preparedness efforts have reached deeply into the population through widespread CPR education and AED awareness. Authority leaders report that CPR training has reached approximately 15 percent of the community, supported by partnerships with the American Heart Association, to deploy public CPR kiosks in high-traffic locations, including Colorado State University and community gathering spaces.

An especially notable component of the initiative is its partnership with the Fort Collins Youth Advisory Board, through which high school students are trained to teach CPR and AED use to fellow students across multiple campuses. The peer-led model helps build a generation of confident responders while reinforcing a culture of community responsibility.

Poudre School District has also implemented cardiac emergency response planning, with trained teams established in high schools and expansion underway to middle and elementary schools. At Colorado State University, monthly CPR instruction and integration of the PulsePoint responder application help connect trained bystanders to nearby emergencies, while ongoing efforts continue to expand AED access across campus buildings.

Strategic AED Deployment and Dispatch Integration

The Authority has further strengthened public access defibrillation through a strategic deployment model informed by geographic information systems (GIS), historical cardiac arrest events, and community demographics. AED registry data has been integrated into emergency dispatch systems, allowing dispatchers and field responders to identify nearby devices in real time during emergencies.

“Poudre Fire Authority demonstrates the extraordinary impact that can occur when an entire community commits to improving cardiac arrest survival. What makes this designation particularly meaningful is the way PFA has integrated prevention, education, preparedness, emergency response, quality improvement, and public policy into one cohesive system of care. This is a model from which many communities can learn.”
— Stu Berger, MD, Chair of the Citizen CPR Foundation HEARTSafe Community Program

Sustainability, Policy, and Prevention

The Authority’s commitment to sustainability extends into public policy and prevention. Community leaders are actively supporting statewide efforts to expand AED placement in schools and strengthen CPR education requirements for students. Future fire code adoption within the jurisdiction is also expected to require AED placement in new commercial construction.

“Achieving HEARTSafe designation reflects the extraordinary efforts of many organizations and individuals throughout our community. This work belongs to all of our partners — emergency responders, dispatchers, healthcare teams, educators, students, city leaders, and community members who understand that survival from cardiac arrest is everyone’s responsibility. We are honored by this recognition and committed to continuing the work of strengthening systems of care for those we serve.”
— Division Chief Tyson Barela, project lead for the PFA HEARTSafe initiative

PFA also hosts an annual survivor recognition event honoring dispatchers, first responders, healthcare professionals, and community members whose actions contributed to lives saved. The event reinforces the lifesaving impact of bystander CPR and rapid intervention while celebrating the human stories behind survival.

The HEARTSafe Community designation recognizes communities that demonstrate a measurable and enduring commitment to improving outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest through coordinated systems of care, widespread CPR and AED education, public engagement, and continuous quality improvement.

About the Citizen CPR Foundation

The Citizen CPR Foundation is dedicated to saving lives from sudden cardiac arrest through community, professional, and citizen action. Its HEARTSafe Community program provides a proven framework for improving cardiac arrest preparedness, response, and survival outcomes nationwide.

www.citizencpr.org

About Poudre Fire Authority

Poudre Fire Authority, serving the City of Fort Collins and surrounding communities in northern Colorado, protects more than 200,000 residents across approximately 230 square miles. Known for its strong culture of innovation, regional collaboration, and service excellence, PFA provides fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue, fire prevention, and community risk reduction programs. Through partnerships with healthcare systems, educational institutions, emergency communications, and community organizations, PFA is committed to advancing public safety, improving health outcomes, and strengthening community resilience — including nationally recognized efforts to improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest.

www.poudre-fire.org