BEVERLY — The city is mounting a widespread effort to install automatic external defibrillators at parks, playing fields, schools, beaches and other outdoor locations throughout Beverly.
Plans call for AEDs, as they are known, to eventually be installed at 36 locations. One has already been put in place at Innocenti Park, and up to 19 more could be installed by the start of the summer season in May, said Bruce Doig, the city’s parks and recreation director.
“We obviously hope they never have to be used, but in case of emergency we want to be prepared,” he said.
The idea for the outdoor AEDs came from Ready to React, a nonprofit run by Beverly residents Kurt and Kelly Anderson. The Andersons started the organization after their son Daniel, then 17, was saved by emergency responders using a defibrillator after he went into cardiac arrest while playing basketball at a friend’s house in Peabody five years ago.
Ready to React has raised money for AEDs that have been installed at Beverly High School and The Cabot theater. When the Andersons approached the city and Mayor Mike Cahill last year with the idea of getting devices for city parks, “We all thought it was a great idea,” Doig said.
Several other organizations are involved in the effort, including the Beverly Youth Soccer Association, Beverly Women’s Softball League, Beverly Little League, Friends of Beverly Recreation and the David S. Lynch Trustees.
The commitment from the city and other groups is a huge boost for Ready to React in its effort to expand access and education about AEDs, Kurt Anderson said.
“We’re a relatively small organization at this point and Kelly and I never thought we’d be able to do all of this on our own,” he said. “It feels fantastic that other people are able to share the same mission we have.”
In addition to the one at Innocenti Park, Doig said AEDs have already been purchased for Harry Ball Field and Hurd Stadium. Money has been raised for 19 more units, and the city is looking for donations and grants to buy 14 more.
The devices cost $2,580 each and include a temperature-controlled storage box that protects the defibrillator from the heat and cold. When the box is opened, lights flash and an alarm sounds.
The concept of widely available AEDs has been made more practical by advances in technology that enable untrained people to use them. The devices give voice commands to users, won’t administer a shock unless it determines that one is needed, and calibrates the shock depending on if the patient is an adult or a child, Doig said.
“They’re pretty much foolproof, for lack of a better term,” he said.
Doig called the project “one of the most exciting that I’ve ever worked on because of the benefits to the community.
“We want to put them somewhere where somebody can run and get them within 90 seconds,” he added. “The last thing we want is somebody to be practicing or playing at a field knowing a defibrillator is inside a building but they can’t get to because the building is locked.”
Ready to React, which offers free CPR training, is teaming up with Beverly Youth Soccer and Beverly Little League to offer training on the defibrillators for coaches and parents, Kurt Anderson said.
He’s hoping other communities will see what Beverly is doing and also start installing more AEDs.
“Beverly has the opportunity to pave the way,” he said.
Anyone who wants to donate to the project can contact Doig at 978-921-6067 or bdoig@beverlyma.org, or go to www.readytoreact.org.
Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.