The Plan You Hope You Never Use
NC’s new cardiac emergency requirements for charter schools — in 30 minutes.
- 📅 Tuesday, October 6, 2026
- ⏱ 11:00 AM ET · 30 minutes
- 💬 Live Q&A
- 💻 Google Meet
- Free
Hosted with the North Carolina Association for Public Charter Schools. Open to any NC school.
What this is
One session, one job: your written plan
North Carolina now requires every school to have a written cardiac emergency response plan in place — a response team, annual staff training, annual drills, and EMS coordination. In 30 minutes, cardiac arrest survivor Bill Amirault walks through exactly what the plan has to contain, what the state will help pay for, and how to finish yours using free templates.
For a district, that work spreads across health services, safety, athletics and facilities. For a charter school it usually lands on one person who already has a full job. This session is for that person.
- What the written plan must actually contain
- Naming your cardiac emergency response team
- Who calls 911, who gets the AED, who meets EMS
- Running your annual drill without it eating a day
- Coordinating with local EMS before they are in your building
- Keeping the documentation alive through staff turnover
- Whether your AEDs are genuinely reachable in three minutes
- How the state’s one-time AED funding works, and who qualifies
On the money, plainly: the state set aside $4 million, one time. The first $2,000 goes to each public school with no AED installed, reduced proportionally if the money runs short — and only what is left may support replacing AEDs or training. So the useful question is not “how do we get $2,000,” it is does our school qualify, and what do we do if it doesn’t? We will cover both.
Who it’s for
Whoever owns this at your school
If you are not sure who owns it, that is itself the finding — and a good reason to come.
- School leaders & directors
- Principals & assistant principals
- School nurses & health staff
- Athletic directors & coaches
- Operations & safety staff
- Board members
- Office managers
Your presenter
Led by a cardiac arrest survivor
Bill Amirault is a sudden cardiac arrest survivor and the founder of Rescue Beats in Clayton, NC. Brought back at a race finish line in 2017 by three strangers with CPR training and an AED, he is now an American Heart Association, American Red Cross and HSI certified instructor, a 2025 AHA Leader of Impact, and the subject of the AHA’s 2026 Triangle Heart Ball “Open Your Heart” story.
He advocated for North Carolina’s new school cardiac requirements at Heart at the Capitol in Raleigh, and works with schools, businesses and local governments across the Triangle on cardiac emergency planning, AED programs and staff training.
“My goal in 30 minutes: you leave knowing exactly what your plan has to say, and with a template you can finish this week.”
Free either way
Take the templates and run with it
The plan template, drill checklist, AED inspection log and a one-page summary for your board are free, with no form to fill in: rescuebeatspro.com/smart-heart-act-resources/
If those are all your school needs, that is a completely fine outcome. Come to the session if you would rather be walked through it.
One note on the fine print: the State Board of Education still has to adopt the detailed rules on AED placement, training and maintenance. The requirement is in effect now; the specifics may be refined. Anyone who tells you they know exactly what those rules will say is guessing.
Save my seat
Tuesday, October 6 · 11:00 AM ET
Thirty minutes, free, on Google Meet. Register and we will email you the link. Can’t make it live? Register anyway and we will send you the recording and the templates.
You’re registered.
Check your inbox for confirmation — we will email you the Google Meet link for Tuesday, October 6 at 11:00 AM ET. In the meantime the free templates are at rescuebeatspro.com/smart-heart-act-resources/.
Requirement enacted in North Carolina’s 2026 budget — Session Law 2026-41, Sec. 7.38, signed July 7, 2026 — adding G.S. 115C-375.6, effective the 2026–27 school year. Questions before then: (919) 372-9657.