Crete, ΖΩΗ Program: In 2024, the Mobile Heart Unit and 250 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) will debut across Crete. To kick off the new year, students will engage in an interactive activity to design the logo for the entire defibrillator and cardiology mobile unit program.
The Region of Crete and the Institute of Computer Science of FORTH, for the digital tracking of publicly available defibrillators, will install over 250 state-of-the-art defibrillators in sports venues and bustling locations in all the Municipalities of Crete by the first half of 2024 through the ΖΩΗ program (ΖΩΗ=Life). This initiative aims to establish a prevention network, with the arrival of the third mobile unit for the heart within the next year, as contemporary lifestyles and sudden deaths underline the increasingly urgent need for protection.
The collaboration also features a project to map the available AEDs in the Region of Crete and develop a mobile application for digital tracking, which will be accessible to citizens at no cost. The application will support the ΖΩΗ program, designed to safeguard the lives of athletes, citizens, and visitors of the Region of Crete. This initiative will be undertaken by the Center for eHealth Applications and Services, with Dimitrios Katehakis serving as the project’s scientific manager.
The newly established cardiology prevention network aims to assist individuals of all ages learn how to use a defibrillator. Students in the final grades of primary school will receive training in defibrillator use. Training sessions have commenced for secondary education students, teachers, physical education teachers, sports clubs, associations, and the general public. These sessions, led by experts from the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Laboratory of the Medical School of the University of Crete, include lectures and practical training with props (four in each prefecture).
The program is allocated a budget of 500,000 euros, encompassing the operation of a Mobile Heart Unit. This unit will provide essential medical services to the people of Crete and offer preventive care to children with specific hereditary heart conditions. Equipped with a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine and ECG, which have already been procured, the Mobile Cardiology Unit’s staffing for the ΖΩΗ Program will be carried out in partnership with PaGNI Hospital in Heraklion.