Metroplex presents Cove ASYMCA center with AED device

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

On Monday morning, team members from the Metroplex Heart and Vascular Center visited the Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA) in Copperas Cove with a special delivery, an automated external defibrillator (AED).

“We are so honored to be able to partner with the ‘Y’ for this project,” said Valerie Romero, director of the Cath Lab at Metroplex Hospital. “Assisting them in making their facility safer for their members is a perfect example of what we mean when we say our mission is to extend the healing ministry of Christ.”

The donated AED can be used on site at the ASYMCA if someone suffers sudden cardiac arrest, or an arrhythmia called ventricular fibrillation. If someone were to collapse, the AED can check the person's heart rhythm and determine whether an electric shock is needed to try to restore a normal rhythm.

“It is our first line of defense when it comes to heart-related issues,” said Erin Spencer, public relations specialist with Metroplex.

Romero said by recognizing there are large groups regularly in a building like the ASYMCA, they are able to help potentially save a life.

“Sometimes you’ll have young athletes drop from sudden cardiac death, and often the thing they needed was to be defibrillated or shocked into rhythm. We did have a patient who had an event, and I called to see if there was an AED,” Romero said. “If there’s something we can do to help our own community, in our own backyard, we want to be able to do that.”

Copperas Cove ASYMCA director Doreen Vasseur accepted the gift for the center.

“God forbid is something happens, we’ll know how to use it and we’ll save them sooner,” Vasseur said. “(Metroplex) reached out to us, asked us if we had one, or needed one. It’s great for the community. If anything happens, they’ll know we have it.”

Vasseur said she will set up training for all of the ASYMCA Copperas Cove staff to know how to use the AED, if it is ever needed.

Previously, Metroplex provided an AED via the Metroplex Health Systems Foundation to the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation to keep in its building, which at that time was used to host city council and other meetings.