The city of Bend has received a grant that will allow it to purchase six new automatic electronic defibrillators for the police department and other city facilities.

The grant, from City County Insurance Services, will pay for three AEDs in Bend Police vehicles, as well as one at its department headquarters on Northeast 15th Street. Two other AEDs will be located in Bend City Hall and at Bend Municipal Court, which is located in the same building as police headquarters.

An automatic electronic defibrillator is a portable electronic device that checks a person’s heart rhythm and advises whether a shock to the heart is necessary, then delivers the necessary shock.

Bend Police originally started using AED units in vehicles in 2003, but those units were removed from cars after a change in CPR certification, in October 2011.

Bend Police originally started carrying AED units in 2003. However, due to a change in the CPR certification those older models are no longer used in the vehicles.

The latest grant is another step in getting AEDs into public buildings around the region.

In 2010, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill requiring every school in the state to have an automatic external defibrillator on its campus by Jan. 1, 2015.

In 2011, the St. Charles Foundation donated $103,000 to the High Desert Education Service District to place 64 defibrillators in school campuses around Central Oregon. Of those devices, 23 were supposed to go to Bend-La Pine Schools, 15 to the Redmond School District, six to the Sisters School District and 10 for programs at the High Desert ESD.