St. B’s awarded AED by Scholastic Sports Zone
Bernardians to receive device on Oct. 1
For the last few years, WPKZ’s scholastic sports Zone sunday morning local sports talk show has given away an automated external defibrillator (AED) every spring to a Central Mass. school which needs one. Listeners are encouraged to email the show host, sales manager Howie Kahn, with the reasons why their school should get it.
And for most of the entire six-year history of the giveaway it has gone to a school outside the immediate historical coverage footprint: the station expanded its signal from AM to FM, plus an online presence for certain live programming, to give it a broader listenership earlier in this past decade.
That changes this year, as Kahn and the Ellsessar Family of sutton will give this year’s AED to the st. Bernard’s High school athletic department during a small ceremony at Worcester’s Flying rhino on shrewsbury street on Oct. 1.
“Providing this life-saving piece of equipment to the (st. Bernard’s) athletic department is much needed and is a benefit to all the schools that have received them,” Kahn said. “We’ve been giving these away since 2013, and through the generosity of the MTE Foundation. We feel the giveaway is part of the station’s mission to support the communities in our expanded coverage area, and we’ll continue to do this as long as we can.”
The Ellsessars’ two sons, Mike and Tim, both died of cardiac-related incidents five years apart: Mike passed in 2010 at a sutton High football game at Quaboag regional in Warren, while Tim passed in 2015 during a boating incident at Lake Webster.
“The term ’ heart attack’
gets wAy overused,” John EllsessAr sAid. “A lot of people sAy, ‘ They hAd A heArt AttACk And died.’ Whether it’s An older person or A younger person, the Big thing we’ve leArned sinCe MiChAel’s pAssing is most people don’t die immediAtely from it. It’s A plumBing issue, to put it in lAymAn’s terms. UsuAlly when you’re hAving A heArt AttACk… if you’ve hAd A leg CrAmp or A ChArlie horse, thAt’s whAt’s hAppening to your heArt. It’s in seizure, But it’s still working. Your left Arm goes numB, you stArt to sweAt, you might CollApse. You might then go into CArdiAC Arrest: CArdiAC Arrest is An eleCtriCAl issue. You’re unplugged. Think ABout Anything you own thAt’s eleCtriCAl: you unplug it, whAt hAppens? It doesn’t work. It stops. Nothing’s working.
“And thAt’s whAt hAppened with Mike. He went into CArdiAC Arrest. He’s unConsCious. So you need An AED to re-stArt And re-kiCk in the eleCtriCity.”
The EllsessArs stArted the foundAtion to “turn A trAgedy into A triumph.”
“We’ve Been ABle to get three lAws pAssed in MAssAChusetts with the help of A lot of Mike’s ClAssmAtes, A lot of friends, A lot of fAmily—A lot of people involved,” EllsessAr sAid. “MiChAel’s LAw: An emergenCy response plAn for sChools. A lot of sChools didn’t hAve AED’s, And if they did, they were loCked in the nurse’s offiCe. Now they’re no longer loCked in the nurse’s offiCe. They’re in gyms, outside Auditoriums. You hAve to hAve one per so mAny people.”