Receiving CPR before emergency services arrive can be critical for medical survival, and in Alachua County, the bystander CPR rate is fairly high at 56%.  

But if you live in East Gainesville, the percentage drops dramatically, Brandon Climenhage said.  

Climenhage is a CPR trainer with the American Heart Association and is in medical school at UF. He said a 2019 UF Health study showed the difference in bystander CPR based on geography and reported only 13 publicly available AEDs east of Main Street compared with more than 200 in the rest of the city.  

His wife, Amy, works in public relations, and Climenhage said they were both impacted by seeing the study.  

“It’s reasonable to conclude from that study that folks experiencing cardiac arrest on the east side of town are less likely to get the care they need before EMS arrives,” Climenhage said. “So that bothered us, and we feel as though, again, we’re equipped to affect change in this area.” 

During heart attacks, survival drops by 10% for every minute without intervention. In Alachua County overall, the chances that a nearby individual gives CPR before EMS arrives is around 56%. For areas around Waldo Road and NE Eighth Avenue, the odds are closer to 20%, the study found.  

The couple decided last year to help reduce the gap by training residents to be CPR certified, especially anyone living, working or spending free time in East Gainesville.  

On Valentine’s Day, the couple launched HeartFlo, a nonprofit to teach CPR and place AEDs for free. February is also American Heart Month.  

“We were hoping to launch it by the end of spring, and we both kind of realized what day it was and had the same idea at the same time,” Climenhage said.  

After the first event, four more residents are now certified. He said they just spread the word through family and friends for the first training.  

He’d like to get to a regular schedule of one or two training sessions per month and highlighted that the training only takes two hours or a little less. The importance of that time can be big though, he said.   

“I would argue that they are worth every minute of your time given the impact that they can have on yourself to empower yourself, to change others’ lives,” Climenhage said.  

As funding comes, he said the goal is to keep training and place AEDs. He said the biggest push, though, is getting out the word that the training is available, with signups available at their website. 

He said HeartFlo would like to do a large community training, like in Tallahassee, where he attended graduate school.  

He said others are also working in the space. A grant and donations allowed UF Health Chest Pain Center to install AEDs in East Gainesville.  

“Although one might not survive even with CPR or an AED, this grant begins to level the playing field, evening out the chances of survival from a heart event in this underserved area,” Dr. Diane Yang, chair of UF Medical Guild special projects, said in a 2021 press release.  

Climenhage said he’s glad HeartFlo can join alongside others doing the work.  

“I would definitely want to be encouraged as somebody who lives in Gainesville or Alachua County that our county number is strong, but I would love to see that number approach 100%, he said. “I think we live in a city where an increase in that number over each year is possible.”