For the first time in Simsbury, the town has installed an outdoor automated external defibrillator – a potentially life-saving device.
At Simsbury Farms, someone could rush over to a recently installed AED if a person was in trouble.
“The more of them we have, the more likelihood they may save a life sometime,” Christine Boswell, of Simsbury, said.
Boswell knows personally the importance of an AED. That’s why she helped fund the town’s first outdoor one at the recreation complex.
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“We donated to Simsbury Farms over the years in memory of my husband. My husband passed away from a heart attack and he was playing hockey and they didn’t have an AED where he went down,” Boswell said.
If someone’s heart suddenly stops, there are just minutes to save them. An AED can help re-establish a heart rhythm.
“AEDs will walk you through the process of how it’s supposed to be used,” Tom Tyburski, Simsbury Culture, Parks and Recreation director, said.
After calling 911, someone is given a code to open the box.
The town was able to put this up after years of looking and then seeing how Willington was able to safely and securely store an AED outside.
The setup costs a few thousand dollars.
“We thought it was important to make these available. Anything we can do to keep our residents safe and have someone come back again that’s what we want to do. We want to take care of people,” Tyburski said.
With other AEDs in buildings that might be locked after hours, this allows quick access whenever it’s needed.
And with lots of courts nearby, there are people of different ages doing activities and something could happen at anytime.
“Just the more and more we can get attention for the need for them out in the outdoor places the better off we’ll be,” Boswell said.
We’re told the AED has been out there for about a month now and thankfully it hasn’t been needed yet. There are already plans to install another one at a park in the spring.
And the hope is to have them at all parks across town in the next couple of years.
