Garage Youth Center gets defib unit

The Garage Youth and Community Center in the borough is a little bit safer these days now that it has a defibrillator.

The borough’s emergency management coordinator, Chuck Freese, who also serves Penn, Londenderry, Upper Oxford, London Grove and London Britain, said he felt there was a need and he recently sought a funding source for one of the units for the center.

He said he approached Bill Stegeman, who is the CEO of Jackson Immuno Research in Penn, and Stegeman was willing to provide the $1,700 for the purchase.

A defibrillator is a small device that delivers a dose of electric current to a person who has suffered a lifethreatening cardiac dysrhythmia.

It is often the difference between life and death.

Along with the device itself, Freese was able to purchase its accessories, including a small cabinet that attaches to the wall and holds it.

Freese said that the staff at the garage has already undergone training for its use, and the young members will also be receiving instruction in the future.

With that said, the defibrillator is easy to use and has with it simple step-bystep instructions on how to apply it and activate in on a patient.

Defibrillators are also known as AEDs, an acronym for automated external defibrillator.

CHRIS BARBER — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Surrolunding Emergency Management Coordinator Chuck Freese and the new defibrillator unit at the West Grove Garage are, from left, Jenny Lopez, Gabriela Ayala, Freese, and Sarahi Castaneda.