Rescue service seeks defibrillators
for Lincoln sports
WoonsocketCall.com
May 13th, 2005
LINCOLN -- The sudden death of a 14-year-old baseball
player this week may spark a push to make defibrillators
accessible during Lincoln’s myriad of youth
sports events.
On Monday, Lincoln High School freshman Michael Monteleone
collapsed and died during baseball practice. The death
of a seemingly healthy and athletic teen shocked the
community, though the state medical examiner’s
office has still not announced the cause of death.
Now an effort is under way to provide automatic external
defibrillators --devices that use an electrical shock
to restart the heart -- to coaches of the school district’s
athletic teams.
Capt. Roger Paquette of the Lincoln Rescue Service
said the Lincoln Rescue and Firefighters Association
has created the Michael Monteleone Memorial Fund to
raise money for the purchase of defibrillators.
"This had been something I’ve been thinking
about getting involved in for a while, but I’ve
been beating myself up all week for not doing something
sooner," Paquette said Thursday. "Hopefully
people will want to get involved now. We don’t
want people to get complacent."
Paquette admitted that there’s no way to know
whether having a defibrillator nearby would have saved
Monteleone’s life. Almost as soon as he collapsed
while running on the field, a coach was performing
CPR to no avail. Paquette also pointed out that Lincoln
rescuers did use a defibrillator once the first ambulance
arrived.
"He was shocked (with a defibrillator) when
the rescue got there, but it’s possible that
having a defib there sooner would have made a difference,"
Paquette said.
Automatic external defibrillators are far more automated
and require very little training compared to the defibrillators
used by paramedics and EMTs. Paquette said school
district coaches and other personnel would be shielded
from liability by the state’s Good Samaritan
law. He said the AEDs give automated voice commands
to instruct users in how to properly use the machines.
Superintendent John Tindall-Gibson said he wasn’t
aware of any defibrillators in Lincoln’s public
schools but added that more and more school districts
are making them available.
"It’s something that’s starting
to happen across the country," he said.
"The town should probably look at installing
them in places where large numbers of people congregate
such as the school auditoriums."
Paquette said fund-raisers hope to eventually purchase
six to 12 AEDs. Each machine costs about $2,000.
In 2003, the Seekonk school system used donations
and grant money to purchase AEDs for all town school
buildings.
The Pawtucket School Department also considered installing
them in that city’s school in 2003, but the
School Committee didn’t vote on the matter,
citing budget constraints.
Lincoln faces a similar situation. The school department
is already facing a budget crunch, and the town’s
finances don’t appear to include the money for
AEDs. Monteleone’s death did force officials
to postpone the Financial Town Meeting for May 17,
and it is possible that Lincoln voters could pass
a resolution calling for the school district to provide
the machines.
Monteleone’s death is still largely a mystery.
School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Weiss had originally
said that the 14-year-old had gone to the school’s
nurse earlier that day for some unknown reason. Principal
Robert Martin later contradicted that, saying Monteleone
had never visited the school nurse.
A police report filed by Officer Walter Ptaszek stated
that Monteleone "was not feeling good this afternoon
in school after eating lunch." The report went
on to state that a teammate recommended that he skip
practice, "but Michael still wanted to go."
Paquette said anyone interested in donating to the
memorial fund should mail checks to Michael Monteleone
Memorial Fund, c/o Lincoln Rescue and Firefighters
Association, P.O. Box 257, Lincoln, RI 02865. |
