If you really have to have a heart attack, do it in Seattle. Your chance of survival is better than anyplace else in the U.S., according to King County officials. More than six out of 10 people (62 percent, to be precise) who suffered a cardiac arrest in the city and county during 2013 survived. Compare that to New York, Chicago, and other urban areas where the rate has been recorded in single digits. “People are alive today in King County who would not have survived in most other places in the country,” says King County Executive Dow Constantine. The key to beating death here lies in a coordinated regional response system—led by Medic One first responders and aided by dispatchers, fire crews, law enforcement, and urgent-care centers—working in life-saving concert. The system is constantly tweaked and has led to a dramatic rise in survival rates over the past decade—from less than 30 percent in 2002. Says Dr. Mickey Eisenberg, King County Emergency Medical Services Medical Director, “We like to say that it takes a system to save a cardiac-arrest victim, and it’s proven true again and again with every new survivor.”

Read all of our picks for People & Places, and explore the rest of this year’s edition of Best of Seattle.