AED Access Saved Carter Zahn’s Life

He Wants His Whole Community to Have the Same Protection

When teenager Carter Zahn collapsed on the basketball court in 2024, a parent in the stands immediately sprang into action — starting CPR and shouting, “Grab the AED!” while another parent called 911. Their quick response, combined with the ZOLL AED’s clear audio and visual guidance, helped restore Carter’s pulse and heartbeat before EMS arrived.

Now 18, Carter has forged partnerships so that a new AED at the center of his community can help pay that life-saving act forward. 

One AED. Ready for the Entire Community.

This spring, in partnership with ZOLL Medical’s Anything Can Happen. Anyone Can Help.™ campaign, SaveStation®, and Project ADAM led by Children’s Wisconsin, Carter and his family are collaborating to place a much-needed AED and outdoor cabinet to the new Franklin Community Education and Recreation Center, an active community hub promoting wellness and life-long learning supported by Franklin Public Schools. 

ZOLL contributed a new ZOLL AED 3® and SaveStation®, a weather-resistant, heated, ventilated, and alarmed tower, designed to keep the AED publicly accessible outdoors 24/7, to the project. 

Placed along a high-traffic walking path serving outdoor athletic fields, playgrounds, parking areas, and a nearby middle school, the AED is accessible to both the recreation center and the broader community during the critical first few minutes of a cardiac emergency.

Bystanders should always call 911 immediately, begin CPR, and retrieve an AED while waiting for EMS, which takes an average of 7–10 minutes to arrive.

“The moments between collapse and EMS arrival are critical … and another parent knowing to start CPR early saved my life,” said Carter. “I want to encourage widespread awareness that anyone at a field, park, or sports facility can access an AED — and know it’s there, ready in a safe place for any bystander to use when needed. Retrieve it from the cabinet. Turn on the AED. Listen to instructions. Help save a life.”

Community Action Beats the Odds, Especially in Youth Sports

• Each year in the U.S., more than 356,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospitals, including over 23,000 involving children under age 18, yet fewer than half of victims receive bystander CPR and only 1 in 10 are treated with an AED.
• Many bystanders don’t realize that AEDs are designed to help everyday people act in a crisis, providing real-time, step-by-step audio and visual guidance for CPR and shock delivery—and even fewer are confident they could quickly locate an AED when seconds matter most.
• As a society, we overestimate safeguards in communities. In youth sports where SCA is the leading cause of death among young athletes, a recent Harris Poll shows 50% of parents believe all youth sports teams have access to a team AED, yet most U.S. states still do not specifically mandate teams to have one. More AEDs in communities = more prepared communities. 

Know Where to “Grab the AED!” 

This new community-based initiative included registering the AED in the National Emergency AED Registry (NEAR), the first unified, nationwide AED registry in the U.S., designed to help first responders and bystanders quickly locate AEDs when seconds matter most. Anyone Can Register helps individuals and groups log and map public-use AEDs through PulsePoint. 

Is Your Community Ready?

Prepared communities save lives. Learn more about AED preparedness, CPR awareness, and how to make sure your sports facilities are properly equipped with AEDs at AnyoneCanHelp.com.