Wear Red for Women donates AED to Camp Branch Baptist Church

January 3, 2025

Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently gave an automated external defibrillator (AED) to Camp Branch Baptist Church. 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.

According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, approximately 350,000 cardiac arrests occur annually in the U.S., and AEDs can significantly improve outcomes if used before emergency services arrive.

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.

Camp Branch Baptist Church received an AED from the Bothwell Foundation’s Wear Red committee. From left to right, Eddie Crouch, committee member; Leisha Nakagawa, Bothwell Foundation volunteer and foundation specialist; Lauren Thiel-Payne, Bothwell Foundation executive director; Pastor Rob Ayers, Camp Branch Baptist Church, Lori Wightman, Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO and committee co-chair; and Meghan Funkhouser, Rhonda Ahern, Trish Henson and Ashley Wooster, 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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