Benevolent resident donates defibrillators to schools

OXFORD – SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman is glad that Oxford Hills resident Alice Cornwall watches the national news.

Cornwall saw a news show on television depicting how a defibrillator saved the life of two teens and wondered if SAD 17 schools had such devices.

She talked to Eastman.

He talked to people in the athletic department and school nurses.

They told him the district didn’t have the devices, but it would be good if it did.

Within several weeks, Cornwall presented the district with five defibrillator devices.

Cornwall is a resident of Oxford Hills and often supports education through benevolent acts.

The defibrillator is a device that sends an electric stimulus to the heart and is used to increase the survival chances of someone in cardiac arrest.

Eastman said he will put two in the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and one each at the Oxford Hills Middle School, Guy E. Rowe Elementary School and at the Oxford Elementary School.

He plans to have one available at high school sporting events.

In searching for the device, Eastman said he spoke to Elton Cole, purchasing agent for Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway, and learned of a company in New York that was offering a one-time incentive price to schools.

He ended up buying them at $2,000 each; they normally cost between $3,000 and $3,500, he said.

He just missed a price that would have gotten him 10 devices for $10,000.

“By the time we reached them, the incentive deal was over,” Eastman said.

Eastman said ideally he would like to place a defibrillator in every school and train enough staff to operate them. He added that the device is not budgeted for the coming year, so reaching that goal this year would be impossible without community donations.

The devices come in a pack so they can be easily transported. At the schools, they will be kept in locked cases that can be mounted on a wall.

Eastman said a spokesperson for PACE Ambulance Service, Norway, said the devices are so technologically advanced that the operator, after attaching two leads to the person needing assistance, can just follow the prompts. He said the machine reads vital signs and will tell you if a shock is necessary.

Eastman said PACE would provide the training necessary to operate the device.

He said he hopes he will be able to place a device in all the schools, and extra ones in the middle and high schools.


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