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McKinney fire department asks EDC for funding to place 400 smart AEDs across city
Summary
Fire Department representative Ben Jones told the McKinney EDC board the Neighborhood Heroes program uses the Good Sam app and compact Avive AEDs to shorten time to first shock; he requested roughly $1 million over five years to acquire ~400 devices, training and software integration.
Ben Jones, representing the McKinney Fire Department, asked the McKinney Economic Development Corporation board on March 17 to support the Neighborhood Heroes program, which would equip trained residents with compact, connected automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and notify them through the Good Sam phone app when a nearby cardiac arrest occurs. "Every minute that we go by without chest compressions or an AED, somebody loses about 10% chance of survivability," Jones told the board, citing local response-time gaps that left 2024 survivability near 1-in-10.
Jones described a phased approach: public-access placements in parks and libraries, equipping police and volunteers, and offering AEDs to trained neighborhood volunteers who sign an MOU. He said the city already placed roughly 100 public AEDs and that recent steps (dispatch telephone-CPR and police AEDs) raised local survivability to about 47% in 2025. "My goal is to put 400 AEDs in the community," Jones said, and staff estimated a five-year program cost "a little over $1,000,000" to cover devices, education, and software integration.
The presentation included vendor and technical details: the devices are Avive smart AEDs that report daily health checks to a dashboard, receive remote software updates and can provide turn-by-turn guidance once deployed. Jones said units can be leased (~$600 per year per device on a five-year lease) or purchased outright (~$2,400 each), and that citizens who buy through the city's sales rep receive a discounted rate if they agree to register the device on the city platform.
Jones asked the board for direction, business contacts, and donations to expand the program and noted an unsolicited local-hospital offer that would cover roughly half the funding but would attach research/data-access conditions. He closed by offering training and sign-up links for residents interested in becoming responders.
