UK HealthCare cardiac arrest survivor leads effort to map AEDs across Lexington

LEXINGTON, KY. (Oct. 29, 2026) – In 2021, Sarah Katzenmaier went into sudden cardiac arrest while participating in Lexington’s annual Thriller Parade.

Bystanders performed chest-only compressions on Katzenmaier until EMS could arrive. She spent 10 days in the intensive cardiac care unit at UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital and continued her recovery through UK HealthCare’s cardiac rehabilitation program.

Now, five years later, Katzenmaier has become an advocate for CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) training and is working on making AEDs more accessible in Lexington. Her goal is to help Lexington become a more heart-safe community.

According to the Citizen CPR Foundation, becoming a HEARTSafe community includes widespread CPR training, accessible AEDs and advanced resuscitation protocols.

Following her recovery, Katzenmaier became involved with the Cardiac Crusade and started a local volunteer group called Cardiac CATS!

“When someone goes into sudden cardiac arrest, every second matters,” Katzenmaier said. “We want people across Lexington to know where AEDs are and feel confident stepping in when someone needs help.”

Cardiac Crusade is a nonprofit organization working to make AEDs easier to locate by building a national database of AED locations that is shown on PulsePoint and 911 maps. Volunteers identify and verify AEDs in their communities, helping make the devices easier for the public and emergency responders to find.

In Lexington, Katzenmaier and the Cardiac CATS! are working to map AEDs throughout the community and encouraging businesses to obtain one if another AED is not easily accessible nearby.

“An AED doesn’t do much good during an emergency if nobody knows it exists or where to find it,” Katzenmaier said. “The more AEDs we can identify and map across Lexington, and the more people we can educate about how to respond to sudden cardiac arrest, the better prepared our community will be when an emergency happens. It only takes one person willing to step in to make a lifesaving difference.” 

Lexington residents can download the NEAR Registry app provided by PulsePoint to locate nearby AEDs and add AEDs that are not currently mapped. Once Lexington reaches 1,200 mapped AEDs, Cardiac Crusade will work with Google and Apple maps to add push notifications and make it as easy as asking Siri where the nearest AED is. 

Katzenmaier has recruited UK students, including medical students, to help locate and verify AEDs around Lexington in exchange for earning practicum hours. She is now asking for everyone in the Lexington area to download the app, create a profile and add AEDs around them. This will ensure Lexington becomes a more heart safe community.

“Getting involved, whether that means mapping an AED, making sure the one in your workplace is accessible or simply learning what to do in an emergency, can help save someone’s life,” Katzenmaier said.

Download the NEAR Registry app, provided by PulsePoint to begin locating and mapping AEDs near you. When an AED is added, 911 dispatchers and anyone with the app can see the location of the AED.

For more information on Cardiac CATS! or how to get involved, contact Sarah Katzenmaier at skatzenmaier@gmail.com