Wear Red for Women Committee Donates AEDs to Bothwell

Members of Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently presented five automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to Bothwell Regional Health Center. An AED is a small, lightweight device that allows individuals and first responders to treat sudden cardiac arrest.

The machine automatically analyzes the heart rhythm and when appropriate, it delivers an electrical shock to the heart to restore its normal rhythm.

According to research, the majority of sudden heart attack victims have good chances of survival under certain common conditions, including that the event is witnessed, the collapse occurs in a large public place, an AED is handy, and bystanders use CPR and the AED.

Funds to purchase the device were raised during the 2023 Wear Red for Women luncheon and auction. The committee’s goal is to have AEDs in every place people work, learn, play or pray in Sedalia and Pettis County. Since the inception of the luncheon event in 2020, 72 AEDs have been placed in or committed to various locations. The 2024 Wear Red for Women event is Feb. 23, 2024.

From left to right: Michele Laas, Connie McLaughlin and Trish Henson, committee members; Dianne Simon, Thompson Hills Investment Corporation property manager and committee co-chair; Leisha Nakagawa, Bothwell Foundation administrative assistant; Lori Wightman, Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO and committee co-chair; and Kara Sheeley, Robin Balke and Erica Petersen, committee members.