Lt. Governor Quinn presents Heartsaver Hero Awards

Link: http://www.standingupforillinois.org/feature.php?id=163

EDWARDSVILLE - October 16, 2007.  Lt. Governor Pat Quinn saluted four people whose quick thinking saved a 32-year-old student’s life with an automated external defibrillator (AED). Quinn honored each of the Heartsavers at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville with Heartsaver Hero awards.

As a surprise, the victim, Jason Batty, was there to assist Quinn in presenting the awards to the heroes who saved his life.

On Wednesday, October 3, Batty, a student at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, suffered sudden cardiac arrest while in class. Quickly realizing that Batty had no pulse and was not breathing, the professor and a fellow student called 911 and began CPR while another bystander went downstairs to the fitness center to get an AED. Within moments the AED delivered a life-saving electric current to his heart. When paramedics arrived five minutes later, Batty was conscious and talking.

The four Heartsaver Heroes – Assistant Professor John Smith; Christopher Kahn, a fellow student; April Damian, a nurse who was attending a job fair at SIUE; and Associate Professor David Cluphf did not know that Batty would be on hand to thank them personally for saving his life.

“Without the quick thinking of these four heroes and the on-site AED, Jason Batty might not be with us today,” Quinn said. “I urge everyone to join the grassroots movement to make AEDs as common as fire extinguishers throughout the state.”

In 2004, Quinn supported passage of the Colleen O’Sullivan law, named after a young staff attorney for the Illinois House of Representatives who died of sudden cardiac arrest after exercising at her health club. The Colleen O’Sullivan law, sponsored by State Rep. Dan Burke (D-Chicago) and State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero), requires schools, colleges, universities, park districts and health clubs to install AEDs in all indoor physical fitness facilities.

At Quinn’s urging, the Heartsaver AED Fund was created in 2005, providing 50% matching grants to assist public facilities covered under the Colleen O'Sullivan to purchase the lifesaving devices.

Quinn was joined by SIU Edwardsville Chancellor Vaughn Vandergrift; Bill Vogler, Professor of Kinesiology and Health Education; Dean of Education Bette Bergeron; and Provost Paul Ferguson. Also attending will be Edwardsville Mayor Gary D. Niebur, Edwardsville Fire Chief J. Brian Wilson, Sr., and Lois Dipazo from the Southwestern Illinois Chapter of the American Red Cross, who will demonstrate how to use an AED.

For more information about AEDs and the Heartsaver AED Fund, visit: KeepIllinoisHealthy.org.