On May 9, 2024 the The Scholastic Sports Zone Foundation (SSZF) a 501 C3 foundation, presented MVRHS Athletic Director, Mark McCarthy, ATC, CAA, with a free AED, Automated External Defibrillator, at the Flying Bridge Restaurant in Falmouth. The SSZF provides AEDs to Massachusetts Schools free of charge.
Mr. McCarthy, with the assistance of former baseball coach David Smith, applied for the grant. MVRHS was awarded the AED because of its intended use. “At the high school we have our athletic trainer, Tania Laslovich, at all events and she carries an AED with her at all times. We also have one mounted in the gym lobby, and at the rink and pool.” When asked where this one will go McCarthy answered, “The one hole we we had was on the fields after hours.” The fields are used all hours of the day and on weekends. The intent is to put this donated AED in a climate-controlled case on the outside of the girls’ varsity softball field shed. That shed is centrally located on the fields and will be accessible for all the youth sports teams that use the high school fields. “Our goal is to have it available on the field by the beginning of the fall sports season, if not sooner.”
This donation included a hard shell portable weatherproof case, AED, and leads. In return, the Scholastic Sports Zone Foundation would like the school to promote the use and availability of AEDs within the community. Their belief is that you can never have enough AEDs available to the public.
The foundation included a letter with the AED from John and Luann Ellsessar and family, parents who influenced the grant program with SSZF through their own loss.
“Sadly, two of our three sons/brothers have passed away due to Cardiac Events. Our middle son, Mike, on the football field while playing for Oxford High School Pirates on November 15, 2010. Mike was struck in the chest during a tackle causing Commotio Cordis and went into cardiac arrest. (Commotio Cordis is a condition in which an abnormal heart rhythm (ventricular fibrillation) and cardiac arrest happen immediately upon an object (usually something small and hard like a baseball or hockey puck) striking the chest directly over the heart at a very critical time during a heartbeat.) Cleveland Clinic. While CPR was started immediately, sadly there was no AED at the field. It took 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. He was transported to Mary Lane Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Our youngest son Tim tragically passed away on July 19, 2015. While swimming, boating, and diving on Lake Manchaug with his oldest brother and friends, Tim was pulled from the water and into the boat, CPR was started, and they headed to shore where an ambulance was waiting. He was rushed to Harrington Hospital where he sadly passed away from a cardiac event.
The Scholastic Sports Zone Foundation of Worcester, MA works hard to make AEDs available to those who apply for the grant. Currently they have donated over 50 $2,000.00 AEDs to communities within the Commonwealth. They would like to continue their work and are accepting donations. The MVRHS school committee accepted the donation, with gratitude, at their May 6th meeting.
From L-R from SSZF members Fran Russell, Jim Ricciaridi, MVRHS AD Mark McCarthy, SSZF member Tom Willette