21st Century Insurance Installing Life-Saving Defibrillators

    WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--Feb. 15, 2001--21st Century Insurance has announced plans to install 18 portable defibrillators in its Woodland Hills, Calif., headquarters. The life-saving devices will be operable by the end of March and will be located in every elevator lobby.
    "Training and equipping authorized employees with automatic external defibrillators will benefit all employees as well as visitors by providing a critical supplement to on-site emergency response capabilities," said Ric Hill, vice president of Public Communications for 21st Century Insurance. Although priced at $3000 per unit, Hill said that the cost is insignificant when measured against the lives of the company's employees, customers, and partners.
    According to Hill, "Having defibrillators in convenient locations within the workplace can, literally, mean the difference between life and death in the case of sudden cardiac arrest. Quick response is the key, since the likelihood of successful resuscitation decreases by approximately 10 percent with each minute following the onset of sudden cardiac arrest." Currently, fewer than one in 20 victims in the United States survive cardiac arrest, due to long response times.
    For several years, 21st Century Insurance has had an Emergency Response Team. This group of 100 volunteer employees has been specially trained to give quick first aid before an ambulance arrives. Now the team will receive additional training in CPR and the use of the defibrillators from the American Heart Association. The training classes will start on February 23 and will continue for 5 weeks.
    21st Century Insurance is ranked as one of the top four vehicle insurance companies in the nation by J.D. Power and Associates and also holds an A+ (superior) rating from A.M. Best, the world's oldest independent authoritative insurance rating and information service. It recently received high marks in the California Department of Insurance's Consumer Study, tying for third best company among the largest six automobile insurers in California.
    21st Century Insurance is headquartered at 21st Century Plaza, 6301 Owensmouth Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91367. For more information, log on to: i21.com