OpƟmizing the Deployment of Public Access Defibrillators Public Access Defibrillators

Out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest is a significant public health issue, responsible for more than 300,000 deaths in North America annually. The treatment for cardiac arrest, namely, cardio‐ pulmonary resuscitaƟon (CPR) and defibrillaƟon is very Ɵme‐sensiƟve. Public access defibrilla‐ Ɵon programs, which deploy automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public areas for by‐ stander use in an emergency, reduce the Ɵme to defibrillaƟon and improve survival rates. The success of PAD programs depends on the strategic locaƟon of AEDs. In this talk, we present mathemaƟcal models to opƟmize and evaluate the deployment of AEDs in public seƫngs. Our models are moƟvated by real‐world views on AED usage during a cardiac arrest emergen‐ cy. ComputaƟonal results using real data from Toronto, Canada show that an opƟmized ap‐ proach to AED deployment can substanƟally outperform exisƟng approaches. Overall, we be‐ lieve this project scratches the surface of what may be possible at the intersecƟon of opera‐ Ɵons research and resuscitaƟon science.