Foundation grant helps keep safety effort alive at WHS
By Caroline Monday
cmonday@mountaintimes.com

A donation made through the Watauga Education Foundation will help make Watauga High School a little bit safer for everyone on campus.

The Watauga Education Foundation presented a check for $3,000 to WHS during half time of Friday’s football game. The check, funded through a donation from Ken Dickson and the Sesame Foundation, will be used to purchase additional automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for the high school.

WHS athletic director Lavelle Hall said the AED purchased will be placed in the stadium’s field house, in close proximity to players during games and practices. In accordance with North Carolina requirements, an EMS crew is on hand during all competitions. Now there will be an AED available when there is not a game going on.

Thanks to nurse and nurse educator Regina Alford, every school in Watauga County has at least one AED on campus; WHS has four. In 2005, no school in Watauga County had one.

Alford and her students worked to raise money to purchase machines for each school. She said, depending on the model purchased, this donation will pay for one or two additional machines. Alford said few school systems have AEDs available in every school, as Watauga County does.

Alford’s recognition of just how necessary these machines are, stems from her studies at Duke University, where she did a thesis on AEDs. “Funding for AEDs is a critical barrier at the high school level nationwide, but quick access to an AED can prevent the death of sudden cardiac arrest victims,” she said.

In addition to making AEDs available, she trains students to become certified in AED operation and in certification instruction, allowing them to pass their knowledge on to others.

These machines are automated, meaning they give the operator instructions as they go along. Alford said the machines are designed to be very simple to operate. She said her research has shown that children as young as those in the sixth grade can be taught to effectively use an AED, just as effectively as a trained medical professional.

The availability of AEDs has increased in recent years. Alford said they are carried in all airplanes and police cars. They are also available in areas where large numbers gather, such as shopping malls.

The Watauga Education Foundation awards regular grants to Watauga County teachers to fund projects and programs that are not funded through state and local budgets. The group supports creative endeavors that introduce and reinforce arts and enrichment activities, improve graduation rates and in crease community participation. For more information about the foundation and how you can contribute to their efforts, contact executive director Melanie Bullard at (828) 268-1273.