Members of Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently presented four automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to the Pettis County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) for deputy vehicles.

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 the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 people experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the United States each year. Immediate CPR and use of an AED can double, or even triple, survival rates.

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Funds to purchase the device were raised during the 2022 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, 47 AEDs have been placed in or committed to various locations. The 2023 Wear Red for Women event is scheduled for Feb. 24.

In the photo: from left to right: Dianne Simon and Lori Wightman, Wear Red for Women committee co-chairs; PCSD Sergeant Scott DeHaven; PCSD Sergeant Heather Hawkins-Hoehne; Robin Balke and Trish Henson, committee members; Lauren Thiel-Payne, Bothwell Foundation executive director; PCSD Captain of Operations Mike Simons; and Allison Brosch, committee member.

 

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