AED FUND DRIVE

LARNED — Pawnee Valley Community Hospital’s Cardiopulmonary Department has been busy over the last few months educating our community members on Hands Only CPR/AED’s.  The CPR education that the department administered has one goal — to make Pawnee County a Heart Safe Community.
Hands Only CPR is a simple two-step process, One, call 911 and Two, Push hard and fast in the center of the chest. CPR can double or even triple a victim’s chance of survival.    
As part of the process to reach this goal, the department evaluated the need for additional automated external defibrillators (AED’s) in our local businesses that have large group gatherings.  An AED is a portable device that checks the heart rhythm and can send an electric shock to the heart to restore a normal rhythm. AEDs are used to treat sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). SCA is a condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating.
To assist the Cardiopulmonary Department the Ft. Larned Lions club offered to hold a special fundraising drive during the month of February, Heart Month, and provide matching the funds for AED’s up to $2,000.00. Kathy Weaver, Director of Cardiopulmonary at PVCH also visited with many groups interested in fundraising for additional AED’s.
The Cardiopulmonary Department will continue to work with community groups in order to finalize this project and provide instruction on how to use these units once locations for the devices are chosen. A list of these locations will be submitted to the local media when this occurs, and an article naming those who have participated in the Pawnee County AED drive will follow.  
We look forward to continuing to work with the community groups to offer this service. For more information, contact Kathy Weaver, Director of Cardiopulmonary Services at Pawnee Valley Community Hospital. 620-285-8629.
“We would like to thank everyone involved with the project,: she said. “It will go a long way to help save lives and make the community more aware of cardiopulmonary issues.”  
There are 1,000 deaths per day due to cardiac arrest, with a survival rate of between five to ten percent, Weaver said.  

 

Lions Club nearly doubles community contributions to AED Fund

LARNED — The Fort Larned Lions club matched up to $2,000.00 of a donation drive for the Pawnee Valley Community Hospital Foundation’s Community AED Fund.  Members of the Noon Lion’s Club, United

(women’s church organization)

and Sacred Heart Church raised a $2,365, bringing the total to $4,365.00.  
The money was presented to the Pawnee Valley Community Hospital Foundation, designated for the Community AED Fund. Donations are still being accepted for this project and may be sent to  send the PVCH Foundation at 923 Carroll Ave. Designate contributions for the Community AED Fund, attention Julie Bugner – Smith.
The Fort Larned Lions Club was chartered March 8, 1974 with a motto of “We Serve.” The many activities sponsored include: Christmas baskets, Larned High school scholarships, Girls State and Boys State, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, glasses for children and adults, peace posters, 4th grade dictionaries, Kansas Lions Band, Larned Food Pantry, Welcome Inn, the Larned High School After-Prom Party, 4-H Council, Kansas Lions Band foundation, MOM preschool, audio radio, leader dog, 4-H shooting sports, Christmas in July, Kansas Lions foundation, Kansas Lions Sight Foundation.