Pittsburgh now has its first outdoor, publicly accessible defibrillator, a climate-controlled tower installed at Frankie Pace Park in the Lower Hill District and open to anyone, any time of day or night. The Bureau of EMS unveiled the device on Wednesday, pitching it as a tool that could let ordinary bystanders start lifesaving care during a cardiac arrest before paramedics even arrive.
According to the City of Pittsburgh
, the automated external defibrillator is a ZOLL AED 3 housed inside a SaveStation tower designed to protect it from the elements while keeping it accessible around the clock. The city's announcement frames the device's purpose plainly: public access to an AED empowers bystanders to begin lifesaving care during sudden cardiac arrest before professional responders arrive.
The ZOLL AED 3 itself is built to coach a rescuer through the process in real time. Per ZOLL Medical, the device provides real-time feedback on the rate and depth of chest compressions, a feature meant to help someone with no medical training still deliver effective CPR while waiting for help.
Why Bystanders Matter So Much in Cardiac Arrest
The stakes behind the installation are sobering. More than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside hospitals in the United States each year, according to the American Heart Association. In 2021, survival to hospital discharge was just 9.1% for EMS-treated, non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrests among U.S. adults, the same source reports.
Bystander response remains inconsistent nationally. The American Heart Association notes that in 2023, 40.2% of more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests received bystander CPR, and separately, only about half of people say they can even locate an AED at work. Most cardiac arrests happen in homes or residences, the group adds, with public settings and nursing homes accounting for a smaller share.
A federal baseline tracked by the Healthy People 2030 initiative found that only 9.0% of bystanders used an AED for non-traumatic cardiac arrests occurring in public locations in 2020. Access itself isn't always equal, either: the CDC HEART Disease and Stroke Best Practices Clearinghouse cites a Philadelphia study finding that AED access was more likely in areas with higher median household incomes and higher-paying jobs.
Other Cities Have Tried the Same Approach
Pittsburgh isn't the first city to put a climate-controlled AED cabinet outdoors in a public park. Leawood, Kansas, expanded its own public AED coverage using SaveStation cabinets that provide 24/7 access, according to EMS1. The Kansas suburb installed its first regional SaveStation at Ironwoods Park in 2021 through a partnership between residents Nancy and Jim Holland and the Leawood Fire Department, then approved funding in 2024 for five more cabinets, bringing its total to six outdoor AED stations intended to cover all of the city's major parks.
Even with that expansion, uptake in Leawood has been modest. Public AED use there was just 7.1% in 2024 and rose to 14.7% in 2025, EMS1 reports, even though cardiac-arrest survival rates in Johnson County typically push past 50%. Washington, D.C., has pursued a similar strategy, with the Department of General Services planning a public celebration for the installation of a new outdoor AED tower alongside DC Fire and EMS and the Department of Parks and Recreation, according to the agency's announcement.
Frankie Pace Park's new tower now joins that small but growing list of outdoor, always-on defibrillators meant to close the gap between a cardiac emergency and professional medical help. Whether Pittsburgh residents turn to it in the moments that matter most remains to be seen, but the city's EMS bureau is betting that having one more tool in a public park, ready at any hour, could make the difference for someone nearby.
