CLAY COUNTY—Even with some community partners volunteering in hurricane-ravaged Southwest Florida and Northwest North Carolina, they worked with Clay County Fire Rescue Paramedicine officials to install 37 Automated External Defibrillators and Narcan kits around the county last Friday.

Operation Lifeline and Team Rubicon members worked with CCFR’s Paramedicine to install kits at selected county parks and sports complexes, building exteriors and boat ramps at the first of several installation sessions. In all, nearly 540 kits will be installed in public places.

The AEDs were purchased with federal funds from the National Opioids Settlement, which the Lutheran Services of Florida Manages, and distributed to Clay County.

“It was fantastic. We had so much going on, honestly, because of the holidays,” said Operation Lifeline Founder/Executive Director Erick Saks. “We did a Trunk or Treat (with the Green Cove Springs Police Department) that evening, so we were racing to get everything done.”

The installation was broken into three teams. The original schedule called for the work to be completed on Friday and Saturday, but the teams finished on Friday.

Clay County Risk Manager Brian DiMaio said he hoped to get 20 installed on the first day.

“It was fantastic,” Saks said. “We were thrilled to be part of it. It's not exactly aligned with our mission, which generally focuses on veteran and underserved community housing, but still, it's supporting the entire community, which is always exciting for us. Whenever we have an opportunity, we will take that chance to help people out.”

Operation Lifeline is a veteran-led nonprofit based in Green Cove Springs that helps veterans find safe and accessible housing.

Team Rubicon, a veteran-led humanitarian organization specializing in disaster response, also assisted. One of the volunteers returned from being deployed in Southwest Florida a day earlier.

The AED has instructions to defibrillate somebody in cardiac arrest. According to the National Institutes of Health, if someone receives an electrical shock in the first minute of a collapse, a person has a 90% chance of survival.

All AEDs are connected to PulsePoint, the county’s notification system.

Narcan is a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. It is harmless if applied to someone who’s not suffering from an opioid overdose.