SAN FRANCISCO – October 19, 2026 -- Avive has deployed 27 Avive Connect AEDs across five campuses of Affton School District in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, replacing a mixed fleet of legacy devices with one standardized, connected program. The district serves roughly 2,500 students and 400 staff, plus the parents, volunteers and visitors who use its facilities.
Affton replaces four or five AED models with a single system
Before the rollout, buildings held four or five different AED models, with inconsistent signage, separate adult and pediatric pads, and a monthly maintenance routine that fell to school nurses. Adam Jasinski, the district's Executive Director of Operations, said that having to identify the model and physically swap in pediatric pads could delay time to shock.
The Avive Connect AED uses a single pad set for adults and children, plus a dedicated Child Mode button. Responders pull a tab at the top and follow on-screen visuals and audio prompts, which include built-in CPR instructions and Spanish-language support. A Training Mode with swappable pads lets staff rehearse on the same device they would use in an emergency.
District sets a three-minute access goal for every campus
Affton built its placement plan around reaching an AED within three minutes from anywhere on campus. District leaders and nurses walked each building, prioritized high-occupancy areas such as cafeterias and auditoriums, and covered public gathering spaces including the football field. They studied floor plans to estimate walking times and ran mini-drills to the farthest field corners and an easily overlooked corner classroom.
Friday night games and community rentals mean on-site headcount can far exceed enrollment.
REALConnect platform automates readiness checks for 27 devices
Avive's REALConnect platform gives district leadership a view of every AED, while each building nurse sees the devices in their own building. Automated readiness checks and reporting replace manual walkthroughs and paper logs, so staff no longer check batteries and pad expiration dates by hand. District Nurse Coordinator Stephanie Garibay said the system enables an "all-hands-on-deck approach" that takes pressure off individual building nurses.
Athletic trainers carry 2.1-lb portable units to cover 200-plus athletes
Affton's athletic trainers cover more than 200 athletes across practices, home games, off-campus matches and middle school events. They previously relied on larger units stored in a shed, or on whatever the host school had available. Each trainer now carries a portable Avive AED weighing 2.1 lbs. Becky Stigen, Head Athletic Trainer at Affton High School, said the device in her kit removes the five-minute wait to find an administrator for building access.
Deployment forms one part of a Heartsafe-certified cardiac strategy
The district partnered with Project ADAM and is certified as a Heartsafe School District. Its program includes AED location mapping to meet the three-minute goal, device monitoring through the REALConnect dashboard, a cardiac emergency response plan for each school community, and a commitment to annual training and cardiac drills.