NAUGATUCK, Conn. -- Two Naugatuck mothers are working to ensure that local schools are equipped with life-saving equipment.

Sherri Hopkins and Lisa Herchenroether's goal is to ensure that every school in town has an automated external defibrillator, or AED.

"Young children can have undiagnosed heart problems. Those are the kids that you hear about running down the basketball court and collapsing and dying, and that's sudden cardiac arrest. ... Your only chance of survival is to get an AED on the person," said Hopkins, a registered nurse and mother of four.

The machine delivers a shock to the heart, allowing the heart to begin beating in a normal rhythm again.

"Without it, your chances of survival are about 5 percent. But if you have an AED available, your chances if it's readily available are up to 90 percent," Hopkins said.

Hopkins said there was no AED available when a 14-year-old boy from Maine needed one.

"Joseph DiPrete, 14 years old, in Maine collapsed shortly after a cross-country meet and died," she said.

Hopkins also shared the story of 14-year-old Louis Acompora, of Long Island, who was playing lacrosse when he was hit in the chest with a ball and collapsed. Acompaora's family said that having an AED available may have saved their son's life.

"He had gone into sudden cardiac arrest from the ball hitting his chest at just that right cycle. He passed away," she said.

Stories like Joseph's and Louis' spurred Hopkins and her friend and fellow mother, Herchenroether, to work tirelessly to ensure that the devices are in every school in Naugatuck.

Herchenroether told Eyewitness News that she wouldn't be alive if it weren't for an AED.

"My son, Grant, and I had just gotten home. My son is 8 years old, terrible, because he witnessed the entire thing," Herchenroether said.

She said she suffered a heart attack and was rushed to Waterbury Hospital.

"I technically had flat-lined at that point. I was gone," she said. "They pulled me in. They put me right to the paddles, right to the defibrillator. I'm one of the lucky few who was actually right near an AED and they got me right back."

Herchenroether said that her and Hopkins' ultimate goal is to make Naugatuck a heart-safe community.

To be considered heart safe, a certain number of AEDs must be available in the community. The machines cost $1,500 each and the town still needs many more.

"As a nurse, I feel that my job is to empower people to take care of themselves and their family. I would like to have them in the schools tomorrow, and that's what we're working for, and we're hoping to get them in the Naugatuck schools between September and December," Hopkins said.

In addition to her attempt to bring the AEDs to Naugatuck's schools, Hopkins teaches school staff how to perform CPR, and encourages everyone to learn.

"Actually the American Heart Association has made it every easy. They have something called CPR Anytime that gets mailed to you. You watch the disc in your own house," Hopkins said.

More Information

The Joseph DiPrete Foundation

To learn more about Louis Acompora, the teen hit in the chest with a lacrosse ball, log on to www.la12.org; His parents have started a program to try to get AEDs in schools.

Also:

• American Heart Association Web sites:
  • More Information From The AHA
  • CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care



• Sudden Cardiac Arrest Community

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