LEWISTON — The Lewiston Firefighters Association donated an automated external defibrillator to the Lewiston Public Library, 200 Lisbon St.

The use of an AED can be very helpful in increasing a person’s survivability from a sudden heart-related condition through quick emergency medical assistance. Library staff has received training, and the AED is located on the first floor of the Library.

Library Director Rick Speer said, “As the library is a busy community building, we are fortunate to have the presence of such a valuable piece of medical equipment that will be a tremendous aid in a heart-related emergency.”

“Critically ill and injured patients benefit most from the timely delivery of appropriate medical care,” said Rick Cailler, LFA president. “The American Heart Association, in its response time guidelines for victims of cardiac arrest, notes that the highest hospital discharge rates have been achieved in patients in whom CPR was initiated within four minutes of arrest and advanced cardiac life support administered within eight minutes.”

Funds to provide the AED came from the LFA’s Community Benefit Fund which was developed in the mid-1990s as an avenue for the association to give back to the community. Over the years, it has sponsored nearly $50,000 of financial aid to area communities.