|
Kiwanis Club to place AED units in city schools |
|
Wednesday, 03 September 2008 |
By SHOSHANA BRACKETT
Starkville Daily News
A Kiwanis service project aims to provide students, teachers, staff and visitors on the Starkville School District campuses a better chance of survival following a cardiac event.
In a presentation to the Starkville School Board in its regular meeting Tuesday night, Jim Lytle, Starkville Kiwanis Club president, discussed the project that includes a goal of putting at least one automatic external defibrillator (AED) in every school in the district.
AEDs provide electric shocks to the heart in the case that a person collapses from a cardiac event.
The local AED project is part of a larger project of the Louisiana-Mississippi-West Tennessee District of Kiwanis International. In partnership with Zoll Medical, the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross, the district leaders have set a goal of placing at least one AED in every school in their district.
Lytle said the project is one way the Starkville club is working to fulfill the defining statement of Kiwanis — “Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time.”
Each year more than 250,000 American die of sudden cardiac arrest before reaching a hospital, and 10 percent of brain function is lost in each minute a person goes without oxygen after a collapse.
Referencing previous discussions with Supt. Judy Couey, Lytle noted that for maximum effectiveness, an AED should be available from anywhere on a school campus within 3 minutes.
The 3 minute time frame relates to the fact that survival rates can be has high as 74 percent in cases where CPR is administered in conjunction with a shock from an AED within the first 3 minutes after collapse.
Lytle asked that Couey and the board decide how many AEDs would be needed in the district, where the first AED should be placed and to select 3 to 5 administrators and teachers at the first location to receive training.
“The Kiwanis Club of Starkville is getting as many AEDs as you need for your facilities,” Lytle said.
The suggested AED distributions in the district — based on students, campus size and athletic events and the realignment changes provided for in the school bond issue — include four at Starkville High; three at Armstrong Middle; one each at Sudduth and Overstreet Elementary School/Family-Centered Programs, the Ward-Stewart Elementary/Henderson Intermediate campus and Emerson/Quad County Alternative School.
The Starkville club will provide each AED worth $1,700 in a 3-year phase-in plan. Additionally, each device would include 5 years of management and maintenance. The local Red Cross would provide AED training to employees of the district so that onsite personnel would be trained to use the device in the case of an emergency.
However, Lytle noted that the AEDs come with simple instructions that could be used by someone not trained to use the device. The club plans to use its own funds as well as donations including tax-deductible donations made to the Starkville Kiwanis Foundation to purchase the devices.
Though the board took no formal action on the matter, board President Eddie Myles said, “We definitely want to get that implemented.”
Other business handled
In other business Tuesday, the city school board:
• Approved an abandonment of easement for a 60-foot wide strip of land running north/south and just to the east of the SHS baseball field. The district has no ownership of the land.
• Approved a change order proposal to change all glass on the Ward-Stewart/Henderson project to 1-inch Evergreen insulating glass at a total increase in cost of $5,228.
The change was made due to the unavailability of one of the window sizes in the same colored glass. The cost remains within the budget for the project, Couey said.
• Approved a recommendation from Briar Jones, an architect on the bond issue projects, to employ Springer Engineering for quality control testing for the AMS project for $13,850.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds of the district in the principal amount of $9,925,000.
This is the second of three bond series that will be issued for the bond issue projects totaling $26.5 million.
The first series totaled $5 million and the third series should be issued after Christmas, said Rob Logan, district comptroller.
The board decided to cancel its Nov. 18 meeting due to a conflict with the Mississippi School Board Association conference the same day. The board will instead tour Ward-Stewart/Henderson on Nov. 4 at 4:30 p.m. prior to its meeting that night at 6 p.m. at the Greensboro Center.
Due to the proximity to the Thanksgiving holidays the week before, the Dec. 2 meeting was rescheduled for Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Greensboro Center.
The board will next meet Sept. 16 at 1 p.m. at the Greensboro Center. Later that day at 5:30 p.m., Couey will make an annual report to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen.
Editor’s note: Education Editor Shoshana Brackett is a member of the Starkville Kiwanis Club.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 September 2008 )
|
