A year after a patron suffered a heart attack and later passed away, Post 55 in Missouri now has CPR training and an automated external defibrillator.
A little over a year ago, a regular patron at Emmett J. Shields American Legion Post 55 in Hannibal, Mo., suffered a cardiac emergency and became unconscious. While members of the post began performing CPR, the man would eventually pass away after being transported to an area hospital.
Shortly after that happened, Post 55 Commander Maria Poindexter was in her office at the post when John Williams – a U.S. Army veteran and student at the University of Missouri School of Medicine – showed up and asked about joining the post. A Colorado native, he joined Post 55 and will transfer to the Department of Colorado after he finishes school.
But Williams came by for another reason: as part of his college curriculum, he was required to complete some sort of community service project. Poindexter suggested providing CPR classes at the post, but also told him, “What we really need is an AED (automated external defibrillator),” sharing the passing of the patron. “We think (an AED) would have helped.”
Williams took on the project, which required around a year of work and applying for and receiving a grant. In the interim, Williams arranged for CPR training for the post’s Legion Family members, working with Allysa Starbuck, an American Heart Association instructor at Hannibal Regional Hospital.
And this past April. Williams worked with the Marion County Ambulance District to present the AED to Post 55. “That was really nice,” Poindexter said. “We really needed it.”
Poindexter said the whole point of Williams’ effort was to turn a tragedy into a lesson learned and then a success story.
“That’s the bottom line of it,” she said. “We do have the elders who come in. All the posts do. All of the posts should have some kind of first aid training and have an AED. It’s much-needed.”
- News