Guests of the Walt Disney World Resort have a statistically higher chance of surviving a heart attack onsite than anywhere else in the world.
The Walt Disney World Resort is known to be “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” for good reason. With rides and attractions like Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom Park and lands like Pandora in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, there’s much to love and enjoy. It’s the site of the ultimate Disney experience.
Recently, outlet WESH spoke with the firefighters of the Reedy Creek Improvement District (now renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District) and shared unique insight into how the fire department and EMS crew function at Disney World, explaining why guests who suffer heart attacks at the Disney Park are more likely to survive them.
On being questioned about how the teams would respond to a call for emergency service, a firefighter shared, “We have a unique EMS service delivery program where we provide paramedics and EMTs inside the theme park areas. And that helps reduce patient contact time.”
The first responder elaborated, “If an emergency were to happen inside a theme park, someone requiring medical attention when they dial 911, we dispatch those EMS team personnel first. So we have rapid patient contact.”
The firefighter also described the situation at Walt Disney World as “unique.” They shared, “Most fire agencies have a commercial district and residential properties that they protect. And communities — our community is exclusively, almost exclusively, a tourist destination. We’re a transient population that comes in and comes out.”
Due to the nature of the elaborate system EMS personnel at Disney World have set up—24/7, 365 service consisting of “over 200 professional public safety personnel ranging from firefighter paramedics, EMTs, Nauruan dispatchers, fire inspectors,”—the firefighter shared an interesting statistic.
The firefighter explained, “Elsewhere around the country, you have about a 10% chance of surviving cardiac arrest. And here on property, it’s between 60 and 70%.”
The firefighter concluded this statistic was largely due to “our training and the personnel,” as well as a “very strong partnership with property owners, and greater access to a fibrillation program.”
You can read the full interview here.
