Life-saving equipment donated to six police departments.

Dickey Foundation and Team Life representatives and police officers display five of the six AEDs donated to local departments. (Hart Police Department had already installed its AED in the patrol car prior to the photo.)

Life-saving equipment donated to six police departments.

HART — Six Oceana County police departments were given life-saving automated external defibrillators (AEDs) valued at a total of nearly $10,000 from the Dickey Foundation this week.

“Officers in Oceana County are dispatched first and respond to scenes of any medical emergency or personal injury crashes,” said Hart Police Chief Juan Salazar. “It is not uncommon for our officers to already be rendering medical care to patients prior to EMS arrival.

Hart Police Chief Juan Salazar addresses the group.

“On behalf of all the local police departments within Oceana County, I would like to thank Executive Director Betsy Orton of the Dickey Foundation for providing six Cardiac Science G5 Powerheart AEDs to six police departments within Oceana County to better equip our officers with such living-saving tools. I would also like to thank Tim Ketelhut, of Team Life Inc., who assisted me through this grant process to obtain these AEDs to better serve our communities.

“By obtaining this generous donation from the Dickey Foundation, this will allow residents and visitors alike to have this life-saving equipment on hand to assist with precious moments during a cardiac arrest emergency, which is extremely important for patient survival. By lessening the time between the emergency and ambulance arrival, patients would be given a better than average chance to live.”

“The The Dickey Foundation, formerly known as Barbecue, Boots and Badges, supports first responders in communities across the United States. The foundation provides financial opportunities; safety equipment such as protective armor, firefighting gear, rescue equipment; and overall support for local first responders. Although, its reach is national, the efforts are extremely local,” states the organization’s web site.

Hart, Pentwater, Shelby, Walkerville, Rothbury and New Era police departments received AEDs. Each one is worth $1,642, said Chief Salazar.

“I would like to thank the Dickey Foundation for granting this donation request of this much needed life-saving equipment to our area,” said Chief Salazar.

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