Bothwell Foundation presents life-saving device to Lake Creek Methodist Church

January 6, 2023

Members of Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently presented an automated external defibrillator (AED) to be placed at Lake Creek Methodist Church located 10 miles south of Smithton in southeastern Pettis County. 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.

Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone and anywhere, and people between the ages of 50 and 70 are particularly at risk. To be effective, AEDs must be accessible to bystanders and first responders in as many public places as possible.

Funds to purchase the device were raised during the 2022 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, 47 AEDs have been placed in or committed to various locations. The 2023 Wear Red for Women event is Feb. 24, 2023.

Wear Red for Women committee members making the presentation to Lake Creek Methodist Church members included committee co-chair Dianne Simon, Thompson Hills Investment Corporation vice president, members Susan Mergen and Rhonda Ahern and Lauren Thiel-Payne, Bothwell Foundation executive director.

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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