WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association (SCAA) today announced the recipients of its 2008 Leadership Awards in recognition of their significant contributions in the field of sudden cardiac arrest awareness and prevention. The honorees will be feted at the SCAA Awards Dinner at the organization's annual meeting on Saturday, October 18 in Philadelphia, as part of a series of events in honor of National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month.

SCAA is the national public advocacy organization dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac arrest through better awareness, better public response and better access to preventative medical therapy. With a growing network of more than 30 chapters and affiliates that stretches from Maine to Hawaii, its members and volunteers include sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survivors, patients at risk, physicians, nurses, emergency professionals and others touched by SCA, which annually kills more than 300,000 people in the U.S.

The awards and those to be honored at the SCAA Awards Dinner include:

• Public Leadership Award: U.S. Representative Betty Sutton (D-OH), chief sponsor of the Josh Miller HEARTS Act of 2008 that would create a federal grant program to fund the purchase and management of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in the nation's schools. The legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives in July but no companion legislation was introduced in the Senate; Representative Sutton has already begun making plans to re-introduce the legislation in the next Congress and secure Senate support as well.

• Corporate Leadership Award: American Airlines, for its industry-leading efforts dating back more than a decade in voluntarily installing AEDs in its entire fleet of aircraft and training tens of thousands of employees in CPR and AED. American Airlines has been responsible for saving the lives of more than 80 victims of sudden cardiac arrest since 1997, and its efforts have set the standard for placing AEDs in other public venues such as health clubs, schools, airports and office buildings.

• Public Service Award: The Rochester, MN Police Department, for its leadership in installing AEDs in its entire fleet of patrol cars as an effective sudden cardiac arrest first responder system. While national SCA survival rates are in the 5-7 percent range, the city of Rochester reports a survival rate for witnessed SCA events of more than 50 percent because of the ability for police officers to quickly get to victims and apply life-saving early defibrillation.

• Medical Leadership Award: The University of Pennsylvania Department of Emergency Medicine's Center for Resuscitation Science, one of the nation's premier research and treatment facilities for sudden cardiac arrest. The Center, under the leadership of Dr. Lance Becker and Dr. Benjamin Abella, has brought together a diverse team of scientists, clinicians, and engineers focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of sudden death to improve resuscitation techniques, optimize patient care and enhance the quality of life for SCA survivors.

• Public Spirit Award: June Daugherty, women's basketball coach at Washington State University, is an SCA survivor, revived in the spring of 2007 with CPR and an AED after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest in a parking lot. Daugherty has not only returned to her coaching duties, but she has been a visible advocate for cardiac arrest prevention. Her public service announcement for the SCAA has aired on the Fox Sports Network and she continues to look for ways to educate the public. In subsequent years, this award will be called the June Daugherty Public Spirit Award to recognize other effective public advocates.

• SCAA Founders Award: SCAA will also honor four institutions that played a major role in the organization's launch in 2006 through their collective investment of time, talent and resources. The recipients of the Founders Award are:
  
• The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
  
• Boston Scientific Corporation
  
• Medtronic, Inc
  
• St. Jude Medical Corporation

The SCAA annual meeting will be marked by three days of education and events, starting with a medical education conference on Friday, October 17 hosted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine on the topic of "Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention and Treatment: Strengthening the Chain of Survival." The medical education conference will be followed by a sudden cardiac arrest survivors' summit on Friday evening, SCAA business meetings on Saturday and the SCAA Awards Dinner on Saturday night. More information on the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association and the Philadelphia events is available at www.suddencardiacarrest.org.

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