Residents will be pleased to know that Vision Long Island has presented the Village of Garden City with one of its 2004 Smart Growth Awards in the category of "Fostering Communities with a Strong Sense of Place." The award recognizes the village's municipal services as well as the Franklin Avenue Beautification Project, which has helped make the village's central business district more pedestrian friendly for residents and shoppers.

Our police department has informed me that they have added more Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to our village facilities. An AED is used to restore a normal heart rhythm by delivering electrical shock to the heart when the heartbeat is dangerously fast due to ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Either of these conditions can be life-threatening, possibly causing a person to lose consciousness because the heart abruptly ceases to pump blood to the body (cardiac arrest).

At one point, only physicians in hospitals used defibrillators. However, recent technological advances have allowed people with minimal medical training to use AEDs in an emergency when medical professionals are not present. The American Heart Association estimates 50,000 lives would be saved every year in the United States if AEDs were more widely available. The chance of cardiac arrest decreases by 7 to 10 percent with every minute that ticks without defibrillation.

I am pleased to report that the village now has 24 AEDs; 11 in various police department vehicles, the fire department has three, which are located in the incident command vehicle at Fire Headquarters, the pumper at Fire Station #2 and in the pumper at Fire Station #3, Village Hall (lobby), the Village Yard (supervisor's office), Recreation Maintenance (main entrance), the Garden City Pool (summer), Community Park Clubhouse (winter), St. Paul's (fieldhouse), Water/Sewer Building (main entrance), Garden City Library (circulation desk) and the Senior Center (entrance by the telephone) all have one as well. Through a program offered by the fire department, employees can be trained not only in CPR but in the use of AEDs.

Recently a resident wrote me a note asking if the police department kept a list of residents who might require equipment needing electricity or oxygen 24/7. I was happy to inform him that the police department keeps such a list and refers to it as a "Wellness Check List." His question prompted me to remind residents who have special needs, including elders who may live alone, to please call and register with the police department. Of course, as the individual who wrote me checked on his friend, as I believe it takes a village to keep us safe and secure. I encourage residents who know other residents with special needs or who live alone to let them know of the police department's special list as well as to check on them during and after blackouts, etc.