Italy expands public defibrillator deployment across venues

Italian authorities and local organisations are widening the network of public automated external defibrillators (DAE). In Rome, the city council approved provision of DAE in restaurants larger than 250 m², aiming to create a “cardioprotected” network covering about 1,800 venues and to promote tax incentives and training for rapid use.

In the Piedmont region, a second call for interest will fund additional DAE for mountain municipalities, alpine refuges and public buildings, continuing a program launched under the 2024 decree of the Fondo per lo Sviluppo delle Montagne Italiane (FOSMIT). The move is intended to shorten emergency response times for tourists and residents in remote areas.

The Association Gian Franco Lupo donated a new defibrillator to the Civil Protection unit in Maratea, the second device the association has provided to the town since 2019, reinforcing local emergency capacity.

In the province of Modena, a new DAE was installed in the San Giuseppe pharmacy in Carpi as part of the provincial “Heart Network” coordinated by the local health authority and the 118 emergency service. The installation brings the total of active devices in Carpi to 99 and is linked to the Dae RespondER mapping application that alerts responders within four to five minutes.