Wear Red for Women donates AED to WILS in Sedalia
Members of Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently gave an automated external defibrillator (AED) to Sedalia WILS, a nonprofit resource center that serves people with disabilities and their families at all stages of life. 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.
Funds to purchase the device were raised during the 2023 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, 72 AEDs have been placed in or committed to various locations. The 2024 Wear Red for Women event is Feb. 23, 2024, and tickets will be available in January.
Pettis County Health Center staff provided AED and CPR training to the Sedalia WILS team.
Middle row, left to right: Erica Elliott, Pettis County Health Center health educator; Brooklyn Shaffer, Pettis County Health Center RN; Kimberly Hamsher, WILS independent living case management, Samantha Jarvis, WILS independent living coordinator; Trish Henson, committee member; Robin Balke, committee member; Leslie Jones, WILS independent living case management; Dana Kelchner, committee member
Back row, left to right: Dawn Williams, Pettis County Health Center mental health coordinator; Rhonda Ahern, committee member; Shawn Bodunde, WILS independent living case management; Amy Holmes, WILS administrative assistant; Teresa Huffman, WILS resource development manager; Angelica Fisher, WILS disability support services-east assistant director; Lauren Thiel-Payne, Bothwell Foundation executive director