OWENSBORO, KY (WFIE) -
New medical equipment will soon be installed at public places in Owensboro.
A $10,000 grant from OMHS will pay for nine new automatic external defibrillators.
The new AED's are fully automatic and will be rotated between busy public areas throughout the city.
Debbi Keller spent the morning at Smothers Park with her grandson. She says these new machines are money well spent for the community, especially at busy places.
"You never know what's gonna happen, especially with kids, and they have little kids. You have handicapped people, so I think it's a very good idea that they have something like that," Keller said.
AED's can be used to get a person's heart beating at a normal rhythm if it becomes irregular.
The fire department says the machines require little training.
"The good thing about the AED is they're foolproof. They have a computer chip inside that takes out the guesswork of analyzing the rhythm, the heart rhythm. They do that for you," said Steve Leonard with the Owensboro Fire Department. "They tell you when to shock. They're, again, foolproof. Very easy to use. Anybody can use them with very little training."
The department says these AED's will allow them to save even more lives than before. That's something that's important to Keller. Her daughter's a nurse, two sons are firefighters and they use this equipment regularly.
"It's very important in the family. I think it's important in the community. Anytime you have a public place where a lot of people are gonna gather, I think it's important to have something like that available," Keller said.
The fire department says it's not sure exactly when it will receive the money, but says it should be in the near future.
The locations of these AED's may depend on the seasons and where there are more people, such as pools and parks in the summer.
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The fire department says the machines require little training.
