By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
The Village of Waterford could purchase life-saving equipment in the near future as part of an overture to be prepared in the event of a life-threatening emergency.
Members of the Public Works Utilities Committee last week discussed a proposal to purchase three automated external defibrillator (AED) machines for village-owned facilities: Village Hall, 123 N. River St.; Waterford Public Library, 101 N. River St.; and the Ray Seidel Community Center within Whitford Park, 730 N. River Road.
While the cost of the expenditure will be the one sticking point, members of the committee unanimously agreed it would be money well spent.
“I think that we as a village should figure out how to purchase three of them,” said Trustee Stephen Denman, who serves on the committee.
Director of Public Works Jeff Dolezal requested the committee discuss the proposal.
“It’s long overdue,” Dolezal said of the possible purchase.
“You’d have a hard time finding a municipal building that doesn’t have one.”
By design, AED machines are meant to be self-explanatory and used by people without extensive medical training. The device is able to send an electric shock to the heart of a person undergoing a cardiac arrest.
When electrodes emitted from an AED machine are applied to a victim’s chest, the device is able to analyze the heart rhythm. The person using the machine is alerted if another shock is necessary to gain a normal heart rate.
While the machines could be especially beneficial to the elderly, committee members pointed out heart attacks can strike younger people.
Case in point: Don Bishop, the 32-year-old Town of Brookfield police officer who died suddenly from heart trouble while on duty April 13.
Dolezal and other village staffers will be looking into price quotations and will return back to the committee at a later date with more specifics.
From there, a recommendation could be brought to the full Village Board for final action.
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