The City of Sandy Springs Partners with Northside Hospital and Avive's 4 Minute Community™ Program
Friday, August 8th, 2025
Avive Solutions, Inc. announces its partnership with the City of Sandy Springs, Georgia, as part of Avive's 4 Minute Community™ Program. Sandy Springs joins its neighboring Forsyth County, GA and numerous other communities across Texas, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee in their adoption of the 4 Minute Community Program: an innovative, first-of-its-kind approach to improving cardiac arrest response.
The 4 Minute Community Program in Sandy Springs, GA is a collaboration between Avive Solutions, the City of Sandy Springs, Northside Hospital Foundation, Northside Hospital Heart Instituteand the Sandy Springs Fire Department.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is a critical medical emergency that occurs when the heart unexpectedly stops beating normally. In the United States alone, there are more than 356,000 OHCA cases reported every year, with nearly 90% resulting in fatalities.
Sandy Springs' 4 Minute Community Program will work to strategically place 200 Avive Connect AED®s with individuals in the community in an effort to increase bystander intervention and provide rapid response to a person experiencing SCA. The goal is to strengthen the links of the Chain of Survival with Avive's new technology and deliver lifesaving therapy with an AED to someone in cardiac arrest before first responders arrive on scene.
"We're proud to welcome Sandy Springs into our growing network of 4 Minute Communities," said Sameer Jafri, CEO and Co-Founder of Avive Solutions. "The City's leadership is demonstrating bold and inspiring leadership by taking this step to advance cardiac emergency response for its citizens in the pre-hospital setting. Through this impactful multi-stakeholder collaboration, including the continued support of Northside Hospital Foundation, we're building a model that communities across the nation can look to and replicate. Together with our ongoing work in Forsyth County, this partnership represents a significant step forward in expanding a connected system of care across Georgia, and in reshaping how sudden cardiac arrest is addressed across the country.
What Is the 4 Minute Community Program?
The 4 Minute Community Program seeks to bridge the crucial gap between a cardiac arrest and the arrival of professional emergency responders. By leveraging historical data on SCA throughout a community, the program equips CPR-trained citizen volunteers with Avive Connect AEDs. These volunteers, known as Cardiac Arrest Rapid Engagement (CARE) team members, can be alerted by 911 and dispatched to nearby emergencies via a mapping system.
"The addition of these devices will have a direct impact on increasing the survival rates of cardiac arrest," said Sandy SpringsFire Chief Keith Sanders. "I'm incredibly proud to be part of this innovative life-saving initiative."
The Avive Connect AED leverages its REALConnect™ Services to enable Intelligent Response technology and transform emergency cardiac care. Intelligent Response empowers 911 telecommunicators to dispatch nearby Avive Connect AED®s to the scene of SCA emergencies. The Avive Connect AED is integrated via RapidSOS with Sandy Springs' 911 Emergency Communications Center, Chattahoochee River 911 Authority (ChatComm), an International Academies of Emergency Dispatch Accredited Center of Excellence. Once triggered, the nearby AEDs flash a red screen and sound an alarm, giving bystanders directions to the scene and guiding them through the emergency with step-by-step CPR and defibrillation instructions. While high-quality CPR buys time, only a shock from an AED can restore a person's heartbeat and save their life. This seamless coordination between CARE team members, next-generation AED technology, and emergency services establishes a new standard for cardiac arrest response.
"Expanding the 4 Minute Community Program into Sandy Springsrepresents another powerful step in Northside's commitment to building healthier, safer communities," said Kim Anker, director of the Northside Hospital Foundation. "This partnership brings together innovative technology, passionate local leadership and generous community support — all working toward one lifesaving goal. We're honored to help drive this initiative forward and thankful to everyone who's making it possible."
The City of Sandy Springs has been working diligently to decrease the time it takes to deliver high-quality care to a patient in cardiac arrest. For more information and updates on Sandy Springs'participation in the 4 Minute Community Program, please visit avive.life/4-minute-community/sandy-springs
