Wear Red for Women donates AEDs to Bothwell Regional Health Center

Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently gave three automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to Bothwell Regional Health 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.

According to the American Heart Association, only 50% of people can locate the AEDs in their workplace. Approximately 10,000 cardiac arrests occur in the workplace annually and immediate CPR and AED use can double or even triple survival rates.

Funds to purchase the devices 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 are now available at www.brhc.org/wear-red.

Bothwell Regional Health Center received three AEDs from the Bothwell Foundation’s Wear Red for Women committee. Front row, from left to right, Leisha Nakagawa, Bothwell Foundation volunteer and foundation specialist; Eddie Crouch and Connie McLaughlin, committee members; Dianne Simon, Thompson Hills Investment Corporation vice president and committee co-chair; Judy Naylor, Bothwell Auxiliary member; Lori Wightman, Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO and committee co-chair; Tim Jackson, Bothwell Security officer; Michele Laas, Lisa Irwin and Ashley Wooster, committee members; back row, from left to right, Angie Thomas, Trish Henson, Jami Sleeper, Meghan Funkhouser and Eric Petersen, committee members; and Mike Shipp, Bothwell Emergency Department director