by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
The first automatic external defibrillator (AED) SaveStation for the Pleasant Acres Initiative was installed on Dec. 23.
It is mounted on the garage at the home of Kameron and Barb (Lowell) Peck. Their home is a red house at the intersection of CR 2 and Crestview Drive. This location is visible to people who live in or drive through the area. Directional signs also help increase the visibility of the AED location.
Barb Peck is a nurse in the CentraCare Heart and Vascular Center and immediately agreed to host the site.
The Pleasant Acres SaveStation Initiative was started by Bruce Bechtold to help get more SaveStations installed around the Pleasant Acres neighborhood by St. Joseph.
Bechtold recruited his neighbor, Mark Hilsgen, whose life was saved by a defibrillator, to help with the initiative.
Bechtold said the Pleasant Acres neighborhood has raised enough funds for this first SaveStation and is trying to raise additional funds for a second SaveStation for the neighborhood.
Twenty-two families and the St. Joseph Lions, St. Joseph Y2k Lions and St. Cloud Metro Lions donated the funds to bring the project to this point.
“We still need additional funds to add one more site in this neighborhood that has (more than) 200 households,” Bechtold said. “If people are considering donating they should do so soon. We would like to wrap up the fundraising by Feb. 1 because our CentraCare grant will expire soon after that.”
Advocates for Health installed this SaveStation with the anticipation that the necessary funds would be raised.
Donations for the SaveStations can be mailed to Bruce Bechtold, 9842 Jenny Lane, St. Joseph, MN 56374. Checks should be made out to “Advocates for Health.”
For additional information, please contact Bechtold at 320-363-4989 or Hilsgen at 320-250-7304.
“We are grateful to the Pecks, Whitley Electric for the installation, Kurt and Ana Krekelberg for the mailings and the Lions clubs and residents for their financial support,” Bechtold said.
Videos on how to use the AED can be viewed at https://advocatesforhealth.net/training/.
The first AED SaveStation was installed on Dec. 23 in Pleasant Acres. It is mounted on the garage at the home of Kameron and Barb Peck at the intersection of CR 2 and Crestview Drive. Barb Peck is a nurse in the CentraCare Heart and Vascular Center.
