Cliff Buchan
News EditorJoe Grafft hopes they never have to be used, but all schools in ISD 831 are now equipped with automated external defibrillator units. Just in case, Grafft said this week.
Grafft, a member of the school board in Forest Lake, teamed with Greg Wood, supervisor of buildings and grounds to complete a program this winter resulting in the purchase of AED units for every school.
Eighteen AEDs were purchased at a cost of $2200 each with the funds coming from health and safety levy dollars in this yearís budget.
When you consider ISD 831 is the same size geographically as the city of Chicago, it only makes sense to do so, Grafft said.
The school board member said ISD 831 is the first district in the state to take the step and provide the life-saving heart equipment at all of its schools.
During Mondayís in-service training day, 92 staff members from all levels of school jobs completed training and received a two-year certification in AED use and CPR.
All staff involved with training volunteered, Grafft said.
Grafft, who works for the Minnesota State College and University system and has a long background in emergency services work, has long felt the sprawling Forest Lake district with its many outlying buildings badly needed the life-saving equipment. After crafting a plan with Wood last fall, the district moved ahead with its purchase.
On the Jan. 19 training day, Grafft, his wife Kathy and four other MnSCU staff members donated their time to complete the training with the 62 district employees. All district principals took the training and each building has multiple staff members at each building trained and certified on the AEDs, Grafft said.
The purchase of the 18 AED units allows the district to keep two each at the high school and both Southwest and Century junior high schools. Each of the seven elementary schools will have one AED unit.
Three units will be provided for traveling athletic teams and other school groups that are on the road.
Units are also being provided to the Central Learning Center and Montessori School, the District Office Building and the District Transportation Department.
Grafft said the units could be life-savers in the event of a cardiac arrest by someone at a school.
During cardiac arrest, the heart is in a condition called ventricular fibrillation.
The AED is used to stop the electrical activity of ventricular fibrillation and help the heart resume its normal pacemaker and proper function.
Statistics have shown that when the AED is used on a patient having a cardiac arrest less than four minutes after the attack, chances of survival are around 75 percent . As the time increases before a person gets medical treatment, the chances of survival diminish, Graft said.
Because many of the districtís buildings are located long distances from medical facilities and the buildings are often used for community gatherings, Grafft said he has long felt the district should be in a position to properly deal with medical emergencies.
The American Heart Association of Minnesota agrees.
Earlier this month, the AHA went before the school board to present the district with a certificate recognizing the district for its efforts in adding the equipment for each school.
After completing training on Jan. 19, the district expects to have all its equipment at each school within 30 days.
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