When Jamesville-DeWitt student Dan Cochran was hit in the chest with a lacrosse ball that sent him into cardiac arrest, timing was everything.
The then-sophomore was practicing on a Fayetteville-Manlius High School field in June, 2011, when he was hit. If it wasn’t for athletic trainer Cyndi Kelder’s AED, Cochran might not have lived to tell the tale.
That is why on Tuesday, June 26, the DeWitt Fire Department donated three automated external defibrillators to the Jamesville-DeWitt Youth Athletic Association, and three more to the DeWitt Police Department.
JDYAA board president Eric Johnson said the donation will help increase the accessibility of AEDs on the playing fields.
“With these AEDs, we hope to locate them at the middle schools fields, and at Lyndon fields at the high school, so that they’re immediately available to anyone who needs them,” Johnson said.
Currently, all J-D schools have AEDs, but they are in the building, and are not accessible to everyone.
“If it’s on the weekend, and you’re playing ball with one of your kids and something happens, you’re going to have a hard time getting to one,” Johnson said.
DeWitt Fire Department Chief Jason Green said members chose to donate the machines because they just recently upgraded all of their own AEDs. Not wanting the AEDs to go to waste, Green said they wanted to donate them to organizations within the DeWitt community.
“Because these are still functional, we thought it was important that they’re put to good use,” Green said.
The portable AEDs are very easy to use, even for those who have never been trained in how to use one, Green said. A computer in the machine reads the victim’s heart rhythm and determines whether or not the AED should be used.
“It’ll say ‘shock advised,’ or not, and that’s what tells you whether to push the button or not,” Green said.
And unlike in movies or television shows, there are no paddles involved. The AED is hooked up via adhesive patches that are stuck onto the victim’s chest. This also helps prevent any harm to the person using the AED machine, Green said.
Donating AEDs to the police department is an effort to increase community safety, Green said. “We have a few documented saves because a police officer arrived first, applied the AED, it worked and the person walked out of the hospital.”
DeWitt Police Sergeant John Mossotti accepted the AEDs on behalf of the police department. He said the department is thankful to have three more AEDs to use when needed.
“To have these, if nothing more than a backup, for the officers that are in service at any time of the day or night, is a good thing,” he said.
