Surgeon calls for better AED coordination around SWR
After a Shoreham-Wading River student had to be revived at a Little League game in Rocky Point last week, one concerned resident at Tuesday’s board meeting said it’s time to take action on the district’s defibrillator situation.
Marc Dinowitz of Wading River said the district’s procedure of responding to a cardiac incident is too reactive and deficient.
“What we really need now is a proactive plan so everyone’s ready to go when an emergency happens,” he said.
He proposed adding more signs pointing people to where the defibrillators — otherwise known as AEDs — are being stored, as well as stationing the devices at every school entrance and exit. He claimed some AEDs were hard to locate.
Mr. Dinowitz, a local surgeon, said he called every school in the district trying to find the locations of the AEDs and got mixed results. Some employees, he said, didn’t know exactly where they were. He also said the district should check and unlock all the devices and make sure each coach is familiar with where the AEDs are.
“We’re playing with fire, folks, and we need to get this done properly,” Mr. Dinowitz said. He volunteered to help the district craft a new AED plan, but it wasn’t clear whether the board would take him up on the offer.
