Franciscan Health Michigan City to sponsor Bolt for the Heart race

Franciscan Health Michigan City to sponsor Bolt for the Heart race

Franciscan Health Michigan City will sponsor the upcoming Bolt for the Heart race to help fund life-saving automatic external defibrillators, or AEDs, for local police cars.

The fourth annual Bolt for the Heart Hallowrun will take place at 9 a.m. on Oct. 29 at Washington Park in Michigan City.

“The annual Bolt for the Heart event has been a tremendous success each year for the past three years,” Franciscan Health Michigan City President and CEO Dean Mazzoni said. “Success means AEDs in the hands of our first responders, our dedicated law enforcement officers. Success means lives saved. We at Franciscan Health Michigan City are honored to once again be the presenting sponsor for this very important event to our community.”

The nonprofit got started after an Indiana State Police trooper suffered a heart attack and founder Pierre Twer learned he did not have an AED in his squad car. It has since donated more than 2,000 AEDs to police, including 465 to the Indiana State Police, raising the funds through 5K/half marathons.

He started the race in Carmel but moved it back to his native LaPorte County.

“I remember when Pierre contacted me and we learned we’re from the same county,” said Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter, who now serves on the Bolt for the Heart board of directors. “He said he wanted to put AEDs in the cars of all the frontline troopers. I said, ‘This guy has no idea how much they cost.’ Now we’re almost 500 AEDs later.”

The American Heart Association estimates 40,000 lies per year could be saved if someone performed CPR and applied an AED in five minutes. It's estimated cardiac arrest kills 335,000 people a year.

“We know that will happen, it’s just inevitable,” Twer said. “That’s why we do what we do. When the time comes, these officers will be equipped with the tools and training they need to respond in a time of crisis.”

Senior Indiana State Trooper Art “Artie” Smith is credited with saving a life with an AED while on patrol the day after Christmas 2021 just south of Elkhart. He went to check in a 63-year-old man and saw he was unresponsive.

“It definitely looked like a heart attack,” Smith said. “I called dispatch for an ambulance, got my AED and shocked him once, did three or four compressions and he came to."

Parademics said it was a "widow-maker heart attack."

“I was in the right place at the right time with the right equipment and the right training with only seconds to spare,” Smith said.