The Greater Barber County Historical Action Association, Inc. was recently awarded a grant in the amount of $1,988.00 by South Central Community Foundation. The grant money was used to purchase an AED Defibrillator for use in The Heritage Center, and was installed on April 23, 2008.

The GBCHAA, Inc. Grant Committee applied for the grant based on the fact that many community facilities around the country already had defibrillators. "We felt that if there were ever an emergency situation at The Heritage Center we should have a way to respond," said Lois Wortman, a GBCHAA member who helped write the grant proposal. "We knew that the school district was going to be purchasing defibrillators for the schools and we thought we should try to do the same. We have a lot of events in the community room and you just never know when an emergency situation will come about."

According to Cindy Christian, Service Manager for Cintas Corporation, who delivered and installed the defibrillator, there are currently eleven states in the United States that mandate the use of defibrillators in public facilities and that in airports and on airplanes, the presence and use of defibrillators is federally mandated. Christian went on to describe the importance of being prepared for emergencies, saying "You can’t put a price on someone’s life."

The defibrillator uses a 5-year lithium battery and has a power indicator light that will show when the power is low. There is a set of pads for use on adults and another set for use on children. When activated, the defibrillator will voice instructions, which are also printed on the adhesive pads, about the positioning of the pads and use of the device. Christian stressed that the defibrillator is one of the simplest on the market and one of the safest. "If the patient is not in V-fib [ventricular fibrillation] the defibrillator will not work. There’s no way to accidentally shock someone when using it."

Training on the use of the defibrillator will be conducted at a later date, and will include members of USD 254 staff as well as members of the GBCHAA. "We’d like to train as many of our members as are willing to be trained," said Wortman.

Judy Hall, RN BSN, is the Infection Control and Emergency Management Coordinator at Medicine Lodge Memorial Hospital and will be conducting the training session. Hall is certified by the American Heart Association to teach CPR and also to train CPR instructors. She is currently waiting on the arrival of the defibrillator training materials and will then set a date for the training session. Hall, like many others in the health care industry, feels that all public facilities should have defibrillators and first aid measures in place. She says it’s important to be prepared for all emergency situations and this is an important step in that direction.

There was enough money left over from the SCCF grant after the purchase of the defibrillator to purchase a fully stocked first aid cabinet for The Heritage Center. The first aid cabinet contains bandages, latex gloves, antibiotic ointments, eye wash, non prescription pain relievers and other first aid care items, including a safety mask for use when delivering CPR.

The South Central Community Foundation is a regional foundation that manages charitable funds for seven counties in south-central Kansas. "It is exciting to see such great work being done in our communities through the SCCF grants," says Denise Unruh, executive director of South Central Community Foundation.