Spencer community comes together to purchase AEDs

When emergency services in the village of Spencer respond to a medical call, there is always a chance that the call could be for someone experiencing cardiac arrest. For those now responding to such emergencies, they will be aided by new equipment that was purchased through the efforts of numerous community members over the course of the past two years.

Four automated external defibrillator (AED) units were recently received by the Spencer fire and police departments, that will be used by both departments when responding to medical emergency calls. One of these units will be placed with the fire department while the other three will be placed in the village’s three squad cars used by the police department.

The process to get the new equipment began about two years ago with members of the Spencer Women’s Club. According to Deb Schafer, a member of the club, the organization tries to choose a community project to support each year. When they reached out to the police department, they found there was a need to replace one of the AED units the department had at the time.

“Every year the women’s club looks for a project we can work on,” said Schafer. “Two years ago, the police department said they wanted to upgrade their AED units. So we started fundraising. We did events during Spencerama, raffles, Music in the Park, and brat and hamburger sales.”

After the $2,500 necessary for the first AED was raised, the women’s club decided to continue their fundraising for more AEDs the following year.

“We replaced one unit and raised the money for it and thought about what else we could do,” said women’s club

Shown are (l-r) Spencer Fire Chief Jason Foth and Police Chief Shawn Bauer, both of whom’s departments received an AED or multiple AEDs for emergency use.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

president Patty Hahn. “Last year, we raised funds for a total of four AEDs. It was a joint venture between us and many organizations and people from the community.”

In total, about $10,000 was raised by the Spencer community for the purchase of the AEDs. Schafer said in addition to the women’s club, there were donations made by other organizations such as the Spencer Chamber of Commerce and Spencer Historical Museum, businesses such as Sun City Service and Bear Creek Canvas and individuals such as Wayne and Pauline Frome.

“This went beyond the Spencer Women’s Club,” she said.

Getting the additional AEDs is something that was important for Spencer Police Chief Shawn Bauer. In the village, he said the police department is often one of the first responders to medical emergency calls, so it is important for all their officers to be able to lend help to a victim until the ambulance arrives.

“A couple years ago we decided we needed to get enough AEDs to have one in each of our squad cars,” he said. “Generally what happens in the village is that when someone places a call for the first responders, we come out there to respond to those calls until the Spencer ambulance arrives. As an example, we responded to about 150 calls that were medical calls for service last year. With the AEDs, it allows us to help those who are experiencing cardiac arrest.”

For the fire department, Fire Chief Jason Foth said the new AED will be placed on the department’s new ladder truck that will arrive sometime in the early summer months.

“This will be the third AED in the fire department on our different trucks,” he said. “We have a new ladder truck that will be replacing our old truck and we will be placing the new AED on that truck. The current ladder truck we have is 24 years old, so we are getting it replaced.”

To further aid the emergency response between the departments and the Spencer Ambulance Service, the four new AEDs received by the fire and police departments are compatible with the advanced AED on the ambulance. Bauer said since the devices are similar and made by the same manufacturer, they can switch over devices without care to the patient being interrupted.

“The new AEDs we purchased can interconnect with the AED on the Spencer Ambulance,” said Bauer. “Say we use our AED and it delivers what is called ‘shocks to the patient,’ as soon as the ambulance rolls up, they can connect the pads from our AED to their AED. They are the same brand so there is no interruption.”

Even as the new AEDs will replace the old, Schafer said the old AEDs being switched out by the fire and police departments will still have a use. Those older models will be transferred to three locations within the village so as to provide more coverage in case of an emergency.

“There will be one at the public works department, one at the village municipal building and one that will be put in the shelter at the park during the summer,” she said. “None of those places had an AED before. Our hope is for us to set up a date to do community training on these devices so people can learn how to use the AED in an emergency. We’re still working out the details, so there is no date set yet.”

When thinking about all the work put into the project by members of the women’s club and the Spencer community, both Foth and Bauer said they were extremely thankful to have such generous and thoughtful people work together to make sure residents are able to get the swift care they need during an emergency.

“There are so many words I could say,” said Bauer. “I went around to many of the events such as Music in the Park, and I could see that we have a community that is focused on giving. Just the enormous turnout was really nice to see. The village gave us support when we needed it and I’m very thankful for that.”

“It’s been amazing,” added Foth. “I hope that we will be able to teach the community how to use the AEDs; it goes a long way to helping save lives. If someone is doing CPR and uses an AED, it can save the person’s life.”