Wear Red for Women donates AEDs to State Fair Community College

December 23, 2024

Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently gave four automated external defibrillators (AED) to State Fair Community College. Two devices were placed in the Hopkins Student Services Center and Dental Hygiene Clinic, and two will travel with athletic teams. An AED is a small, lightweight device that allows individuals and first responders to treat sudden cardiac arrest. The machine automatically analyzes the heart rhythm and when appropriate, it delivers an electrical shock to the heart to restore its normal rhythm.

The American Heart Association (AHA) supports the use of AEDs in sports and athletic venues to increase the chances of survival for people experiencing cardiac arrest. Many professional sports organizations have partnered with the AHA to raise awareness and advocate for policies to prevent cardiac arrest in student athletes.

Funds to purchase the device were raised during the 2024 Wear Red for Women luncheon and auction. The committee’s goal is to have AEDs in every place people work, learn, play or pray in Sedalia and Pettis County. Since the inception of the luncheon event in 2020, nearly 100 AEDs have been placed in or committed to various locations. The 2025 Wear Red for Women event is Feb. 28, 2025, and tickets will be available in January.

State Fair Community College received four AEDs from the Bothwell Foundation’s Wear Red for Women committee. Front row, from left to right, Ashley Wooster and Trish Henson, committee members; Ashley White, Bothwell PEAK Sport & Spine athletic trainer at SFCC; Kaleigh Moore, SFCC Dental Hygiene student; Dr. Andra Ferguson, SFCC Dental Hygiene program director; Dr. Brent Bates, SFCC president; Lori Wightman, Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO and committee co-chair; Leisha Nakagawa, Bothwell Foundation volunteer and foundation specialist; and Eddie Crouch, committee member; back row, from left to right, Darren Pannier, SFCC athletic director; Allison Brosch, SFCC Health Sciences dean; Erica Petersen, committee member, Keith Acuff; SFCC Finance and Administration vice president; and Jami Sleeper, Angie Thomas and Meghan Funkhouser, committee members

Bothwell Regional Health Center is a regional health center serving west-central Missouri with state-of-the-art technology and comprehensive health and wellness services including primary care, specialty care and emergency care. For more information about Bothwell and its services, visit www.brhc.org or find us on Facebook.

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