(This story was updated due to an inaccuracy)
RAISIN TWP., MI — Monroe Community Heartsavers has big goals: Install AEDs across Monroe County and train people to save lives.
About a year ago, five local men started working on the program. Four are firefighters: Cody Kegerreis from Monroe, Brian Merkle from Monroe Township and Cory Guy and Josh Volker from Frenchtown Township. The fifth man, Jerry Lawson, is a first aid/CRP instructor with Lawson’s Lifesavers.
“It’s a huge undertaking,” Kegerreis said.
The Monroe Community Heartsavers is a non-profit organization through the Community Foundation of Monroe County. Merkle and Lawson were inspired by a number of lifesaving awards given at the 2024 United Way Everyday Heroes ceremony, Merkle said.
“When Jerry Lawson and I decided to start a committee, I reached out to Scott Smiley of Monroe Fire Department and Wendy Stevens from Frenchtown Township Fire for suggestions of who might be interested in assisting,” Merkle said. “(All five of us) have all worked together off and on through our various department’s mutual aid agreements.”
The Heartsavers want to expand on Bedford Lions Club’s Bedford Heart Heroes program, which has provided AEDs in south county since 2010.
“We want to serve the rest of the county,” Merkle said.
Automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, according to Mayo Clinic, are portable devices that can be used to treat a person whose heart has suddenly stopped working. Cardiac emergencies include sudden cardiac arrest and heart attack.
“We hope they don’t get used,” Kegerreis said. “If you get an AED in under five minutes, you have a 30% higher chance of living.”
Quick use of AEDs has saved several people in Monroe County, including sports official Doug Sanders, who suffered cardiac arrest Nov. 29, 2024, at a Jefferson High School game.
Kegerreis said sudden heart issues are most common in small children, the elderly and those with undiagnosed heart problems. The American Heart Association said cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death.
Monroe Community Heartsavers’ program
Monroe Community Heartsavers is selling AEDs to businesses and for-profit agencies for $1,700 each.
“That’s very cost-effective and substantially down (from the past),” Kegerreis said.
For every two AEDs Heartsavers sells, it donates a third unit to a nonprofit organization or critical area. Nonprofits can apply here.
“So many businesses are purchasing AEDs. If we are the one to sell it, we can use that money (for a free one),” Kegerreis said.
Recently, Monroe County Business Alliance and Monroe Florist bought AEDs from Monroe Community Heartsavers. Those sales allowed Heartsavers to provide its first free AED. It was awarded in late October to Meadow Montessori School.
“We looked at this for several years. The cost was just (too high). This summer, one of our staff had a niece who’s 13. She had a heart attack. Her life was saved,” said Catharine Calder, head of the school.
Kegerreis teaches AED recipients how to use the device. He recently worked with about 15 people at Monroe County Business Alliance.
“It’s worthless if it’s just sitting on the wall,” Kegerreis said. “AEDs talk you through the whole thing. It’s nothing to be sacred of.”
He said maintenance is minimal.
“Every two years, pads need replaced. Every five years, it needs batteries,” Kegerreis said.
“We’ll continue to raise funds for maintenance and to replace units,” Merkle said.
More AEDs in schools and public spaces
Where are the AEDs in Monroe County? Monroe Community Heartsavers is trying to find out.
Several public schools already have them. Michigan 2024 House Bills 5527 and 5528, which were signed into law, require public schools to have comprehensive safety requirements that include cardiac emergency response plans, according to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
But, the new laws don’t cover private schools and other organizations.
There’s currently no list of all of the county’s AEDs, Merkle and Kegerreis said.
“We’re (putting together) a database of AEDs,” Merkle said.
Monroe Community Heartsavers would like to see AEDs installed outdoors, in weather-proof cases. Kegerreis said one study looked at installing an outdoor AED at a Monroe auto dealership.
“(About) 3,500 could have access under five minutes. That could be huge,” Kegerreis said.
In an emergency, a good samaritan would get the AED access code from the 9-1-1 dispatcher.
“When you call 9-1-1 they’ll have access to where they are in outdoor (areas),” Merkle said.
The Heartsavers also are looking at other public places where AEDs are needed, such as athletic fields, parks and school buses.
“City of Monroe, most of the parks are covered,” Kegerreis said. “Stoneco Park (in Monroe Township) doesn’t have one. If an AED was on every school bus, that would be huge.”
Lifesaving classes
In addition to providing AEDs, Monroe Community Heartsavers is encouraging people to learn lifesaving skills.
Kegerreis said first responder response time can be about six to eight minutes.
“(It will help) if we train the community to do CPR,” Kegerreis said.
Merkle said local fire stations and the Monroe County Firefighters Association offer classes.
“We want to partner with them,” Merkle said.
Today’s classes teach Hands Only CPR.
“Rescue breaths are not the most important. Compressions, the chance of survival increases. Compressions are a lot less evasive. It gets a lot more people involved,” Merkle said.
“Hands Only CPR is vital when a person suffers from cardiac arrest,” according to the American Heart Association. “About 90% of those who suffer cardiac arrest out of a hospital do not survive. Receiving CPR immediately helps their chance of survival.”
— Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@monroenews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: New group, Monroe Community Heartsavers, wants to cover Monroe County with AEDs
Reporting by Suzanne Nolan Wisler, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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