Wear Red for Women donates AED to CHS-Dawn Compton Early Learning Center

Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently gave an automated external defibrillator (AED) to Center for Human Services (CHS) Dawn Compton Early Learning Center. 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.

Fewer than 30% of early learning centers have an accessible AED on-site, despite the fact that quick intervention with an AED during a sudden cardiac arrest can improve survival rates by up to 70%. This highlights the critical need for emergency preparedness in childcare settings.

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 sold out with record attendance. Free, online tickets are still available at brhc.org/wear-red.