BROOKINGS – With the help of several local businesses and organizations, the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office was able to purchase seven new automated external defibrillators for the department’s patrol cars.
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BROOKINGS – With the help of several local businesses and organizations, the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office was able to purchase seven new automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for the department’s patrol cars.
Defibrillators are machines that apply electric shocks to a person to get his or her heartbeat back in rhythm. These machines are vital tools for patrol cars to carry since they frequently arrive at accidents and medical calls before an ambulance does. Being able to help those individuals as soon as they arrive is crucial.
“We don’t have to use them a lot, thank God, but when we do need them, they are a necessity to have,” Sgt. Jon Pike said.
The department already had seven AEDs, which had been bought through a grant, but they were starting to have problems, Pike said.
“They weren’t coming on correctly. We had to send one of them in to get fixed. The battery life had been getting very low on them, and we had problems with connections to the batteries. They were just getting more and more unserviceable,” he said.
They were able to trade in the old machines for credit with Physio-Control, an AED and emergency medical response product manufacturer and seller. The money from that, totaling $1,050, was put toward the purchase of new AEDs.
The sheriff’s office worked with Brookings Ambulance to make sure the new machines they’d buy were compatible with units in the ambulances. They recommended the Physio-Control Lifepak 1000 units.
“The reason we wanted to make sure the connections were compatible with their units was so we could just unplug the pads from our AED and they could plug them into their unit without having to put new pads on the victim,” Pike said.
The cost of the Life Pack 1000 is $2,247.17 per unit for a total of $15,730.25. At that point, Pike reached out to local businesses and organizations to see if any would be willing to donate to assist them in bringing these new units to the patrol deputies.
“I am very happy to say that four local businesses and one organization donated the funds to fully purchase the units,” Pike said.
The Brookings County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the following: Fishback Financial Corporation, Volga Lions Club, Larson Manufacturing, Valero Renewable Fuels and Basin Electric Power Cooperative.
Those machines have been purchased and placed in the patrol cars now.
Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.
