Bothwell Foundation Places AED at CHS Ewing Center

The Bothwell Foundation presented an automated external defibrillator (AED) to the Center for Human Services’ (CHS) Ewing Vocational Center.

An AED is a small, lightweight device that allows individuals and first responders to treat sudden cardiac arrest by delivering a shock to the victim's chest, ideally restarting their heart. 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.

The AED for Ewing Vocational Center was purchased from proceeds raised at the 2020 Wear Red for Women luncheon and auction. Enough funds were raised from the 2020 event to place 19 AEDs in and around Sedalia. The 2021 event raised funds to place an additional 12 AEDs. The foundation’s goal is to have AEDs in every place people work, learn, play or pray in Sedalia and Pettis County.

Front row, from left, Susan Mergen, CHS development director, Lori Wightman, Bothwell CEO and Wear Red Committee co-chair; Ann Graff, former CHS CEO; and Dianne Simon, Thompson Hills Investment Corporation property manager and Wear Red Committee co-chair. Back row, from left, Robin Balke, Trish Henson and Erica Petersen, Wear Red Committee members. The 2022 Wear Red for Women event is Feb. 25, 2022.