Every Mesa County school, both public and private, will soon be equipped with an AED.

Community Hospital used foundation funds to purchase 50 of the life saving devices, and now it’s giving them away for free.

Thousands of children pass away every year from sudden cardiac arrest.

Many of those deaths could be prevented by using an AED.

The American Heart Association recommends all schools have one but there's no specific funding set aside for the resource.

Community Hospital says it wanted to help prevent a student death, that’s why it bought 50 brand new AEDs to give to each school in Mesa County that didn't already have one.

Staff is going to be trained on how to use them as well.

In all, it’s about an $80,000 donation.

Chris Thomas, President and CEO of Community Hospital, says, “We should have done this a long time ago but we are glad we can do it now. These things have been around for a while and we are glad we can put them in the schools.”

The hospital will be paying for the devices with funds it hopes to raise at this Saturday’s gala and silent auction.

It’s their biggest fundraiser of the year and tickets are still available.