Community Comes Together To Purchase New AED For Tod's Point

GREENWICH, CT — With beach season officially underway in Greenwich, guests at Tod's Point can now feel a little more secure should a health emergency strike.

Last week, the Lions Club, Rotary Club, and Greenwich Emergency Medical Services (GEMS) unveiled a brand new Automated External Defibrillator (AED) at the south concession stand.

The three organizations pooled their resources together at $1,500 each, with the help of local resident Phil Brous to purchase the AED. Brous has been advocating for additional AED's at Tod's Point and around town for several years. There is a device at the north concession stand, and at the back bathroom that faces the New York City skyline on Tod's Point.

"It's the gift that you hope you're never going to use," Brous said.

Lifeguards have AED's with them, but when they're off-duty or not readily available, the installed devices can be used by any resident. When the AED is opened, it sounds an alarm and calls 911 dispatch like a normal emergency call. GEMS is also notified electronically that a call has been placed. The AED can snap photos of the scene, too.

"This is a great thing to have. At 6 p.m. the lifeguards are off duty, and to have this available to use is unbelievable," said Tod's Point caretaker, Mike Mark.

The Town of Greenwich is a HEARTSafe Community, meaning that it has "documented the 'Chain of Survival' links to address cardiac emergencies for its citizens. These links include early access to emergency care, early CPR, early defibrillation, and early advanced care," according to the State of Connecticut website.

"That designation needs to be renewed every three years," explained GEMS Executive Director, Tracy Schietinger. "This machine itself helped us obtain our recertification of our HEARTSafe community. We are continually adding to the town trying to make the town better. We're continually training people in CPR and re-training."

Greenwich resident Alan Gunzburg, who is Chair of the First Selectman's Advisory Committee For People With Disabilities and member of the Lions Club, was approached by Brous about supporting the need for an AED.

Gunzburg and the Lions Club were quick to lend a helping hand.

"We're interested in welfare, health, safety and accessibility. Those are the important things to make the town of Greenwich a community," Gunzburg said. "We want that community feel where our service clubs do service and deliver the kinds of programs and fund the kinds of programs that make a difference in people's lives."

When Sally Parris, a board member with the Rotary Club, found out about the idea for a new AED at Tod's Point, she wanted to help, too. Money was donated through the Rotary Club's foundation.

Both Gunzburg and Parris believe these types of collaborations are vital for Greenwich.

"We should be doing more collaborations, especially with funding getting harder to find," Parris said.

"Sometimes it takes the private citizens and organizations in town to show the town how important some things are," added Gunzburg. "Hopefully we get to the point where this is something we hang our coats on and never use. But to have something like this here and in other places in our town, it shows we care about our citizens and we want safety."

Brous said he would like to add an AED at Tuefel Field in Riverside next. Schietinger agreed that there are "high-activity" locations in Greenwich that need one. She noted that the goal is to access an AED within three minutes in such areas, and once it was determined that it was difficult to reach the north concession stand in that time, the south concession was labeled as a necessary location.

Even though any AED can be operated without training, Schietinger urged residents to learn how to administer CPR. GEMS offers courses to the public, she said.

For Gunzburg, Tod's Point has been an important destination throughout the pandemic, as he's frequently in the park getting exercise with his service dog throughout the week.

"This is a beautiful place," he said. "I'm glad that we can make this place better and safer."