Richard Macellaro On AED

Presented at the Smithtown Town Board Meeting Town Hall Smithtown, New York, 11780

October 8, 2013

Good Afternoon, Mr. Supervisor and Town Board Members.  My name is Richard S. Macellaro and I have been a resident for more than 22 years.  At this morning Town Board Work Session, an issue was discussed, regarding AED’s (An automated external defibrillator— a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias) and the Town’s position on maintaining them at its Parks and/or recreation centers.

Understandably, there will be more discussions to be held on the placement, implementation, possible vandalism and/or theft of these lifesaving devises, as well as other Town liability issues. However, I would like to propose some ideas and suggestions as to how to deal with these concerns.

First, any group or organization who seeks a Town permit to utilize these premises must provide their own AED’s to be staffed by their own certified AED personnel.  As part of the application process, the organization will indicate their acceptance of this requirement.  The application is then reviewed and approved by Public Safety Department or other jurisdictional entity.

Second, the Town will maintain an appropriate number of AED’s, for those organizations who are permitted to utilized Town facilities, and loan the AED to the organization’s representative, whose responsibility will be to staff the AED and return it back to the Town, in proper working order, at the conclusion of its event(s.) 

Third, the organization will pay an appropriate rental fee.

Fourth, if an organization is unable to pay a rental fee, the Town will provide the AED and staff its operation, during duly noted time frames.

I believe this is an important issue for our residents and the many groups and organizations who use these fine parks and recreation facilities.  I hope that the Town Board will act on these concerns in a timely manner. 

Thank you.

Richard Macellaro

Comments

[strehy]

Why not have the referees and umps trained on AEDs and have them responsible for carrying them to the fields based on playing field schedules. There should be a locked drop off and pickup box near the fields and the umps could have keys. I know that kids can get hurt during practices but this would be a start, and if that was in place, then maybe coaches could have keys to the AED boxs also. There are sample policies for AED use on the internet... They are in use in many other communities... This is not rocket science.