LIHUE — Monica Oszust, president of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, hopes the Lihue Pop Warner Association will never have to use the automated external defibrillator (AED) the club donated. “Safety is always our top priority,” said Rene Kawakami,
LIHUE — Monica Oszust, president of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, hopes the Lihue Pop Warner Association will never have to use the automated external defibrillator (AED) the club donated.
“Safety is always our top priority,” said Rene Kawakami, president of the Lihue Pop Warner Association. “We have been trying to acquire an AED for the past few years. We even hosted a golf tournament to try and raise funds for an AED, but the cost of equipment always kept it as a goal we would try and achieve. Dr. Jeff Goodman found out our plight, and we are grateful to the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay for this AED. It is good to have in the unlikely event the coaches would need it.”
Monica Oszust was joined by her husband John, past president of the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, and Goodman in presenting the Lihue Pop Warner Association an AED during a cardiopulmonary resuscitation class for coaches and staff held with the Lihue Airport Crash Fire crew.
“Our goal is to put 50 AED in the community, including Niihau,” John Oszust said. “During a trip to Japan, we noticed AED almost everywhere — at train stations, street corners, pretty much everywhere we looked. We have about 20 AED placed in the community, and we need to get more placed. Our next one is for the Moikeha Building, and we are speaking with Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. about that. We would like to see more placed on the Westside.”
Monica Oszust said there is an app for smart phones which allows people to locate the closest AED in the event one is needed.
“I’m glad to see that the coaches and staff are learning how to use an AED,” she said. “I just hope you never have to use it.”
The AED, with an all-weather case, is valued at about $2,200. In a conventional case, the AED is valued at about $1,750.
