Meeting professionals have the power to provide the incentive for hotels, convention centers, and other types of meeting facilities to implement cardiac emergency programs including AEDs that will protect attendees, guests and employees alike.  In many cases, the booking of a single meeting will more than cover the cost to a hotel for an entire year.

As meeting facilities stand ready to make the investment to provide the services and amenities their customers require, it is up to you to let them know the importance of this issue.   Here is how you can begin to make a difference:

1. Include the CardioReady designation as part of your search criteria.
Hotels and convention centers that have received a CardioReady designation are listed on dozens of websites across the entire meetings industry, such as mpoint.com and mimegasite.com.

2. Include the following question as part of your meeting Request for Proposal (RFP):
Will your property have a CardioReady certified cardiac emergency program in place, including automated external defibrillators (AEDs), for the dates of this meeting? Due to evolving standards of care, a CardioReady certified property may receive preference over a non-certified property during the selection process.

3. Inform your employers and clients.
You and/or your clients may already be protected by AED programs at your places of business.  If your employer has acknowledged the importance of AEDs in the workplace, shouldn't those same protections continue while traveling - especially on company-mandated trips? As an expert consultant, it is your job to be in tune with evolving trends and standards of care to best advise your clients.  Additional information resources on the requirements and benefits of compliant AED programs are available from the American Heart Association.

For information on locating CardioReady certified, properties, or making sure that a property is certified before your next meeting, please contact info@cardioready.com, or (800) 614-9368.