Geauga AED Project

On November 13, 2004, the Burton-Middlefield Rotary initiated one of it's largest and most ambitious fundraising projects. The objective was to raise funds to provide Automated External Defibrillators (AED's) to the Geauga County Sheriff's Office.

Each year 200,000 Americans die of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). The only successful treatment for SCA is defibrillation. For every minute that passes without treatment the chance of survival drops 10 %. In order for treatment to be delivered at a time when it can be successful, AED's have to be on the scene within 10 minutes. Since law enforcement vehicles are usually the first responders to the scene it makes good sense that they be properly equipped with these lifesaving devices.

The fundraising started with a raffle. The "Victorian Gardening Cottage", was designed, built and marketed by the Burton-Middlefield Rotary. The following pictures follow the project from the start of the building project, through several of the raffle venues, including the IX Center's Home and Flower Show, through the drawing of the winner, Dana Vargo of Massillon, to the delivery of the Cottage to Dana's home in Massillon.

In addition to the funds generated by the raffle, many local businesses and foundations made generous contributions to the project. As of 10-3-2005, the project had raised $62,096.10. With those funds the Burton-Middlefield Rotary has been able to purchase a total of 32 AED's for Geauga County law enforcement vehicles. Not only did the project meet the goal of supplying all unequipped Geauga County Sheriff's vehicles with AED's, it was able to provide an additional 14 units to other county law enforcement offices that were unequipped or under equipped.

Day One of the Victorian Gardening Cottage construction, 11-13-2004.