By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Duane Billinger, a paramedic from First Responder KS in Wichita, routinely checks the AEDs placed throughout the buildings in the Great Bend school district. The goal is to ensure pads are not expired and batteries are holding up. He also makes recommendations. At Monday's board of education meeting, Assistant Superintendent John Popp suggested taking action on those recommendations.
"He, in discussion with our nurses, recognized there are a couple of places - I think one's in Riley and one's at the high school - where it's more than three minutes to an AED. You want to be within three minutes of an AED from any place in the building. So he recommended adding a couple AEDs in those buildings, which we are happy to do."
Great Bend High School Activities Director Matt Westerhaus has requested three additional AEDs to be placed at locations like The Cav soccer facility and school buses. The board approved the purchase of five AEDs, cabinets or carriers for machines, and 3-D signage.
"At the high school, and I believe in the middle school, there's an AED hanging on the wall, but unless you happen to be coming down this hallway, you don't know it's there," said Popp. "We're going to get some signage to point out if you're in an adjacent hallway that there's an AED right over here."
The board voted 6-0 to approve the purchase for $10,448.