Milford Daily News reports family honoring father's/husbands death by donating AEDs to law enforcement.
https://www.milforddailynews.com/st...olice-after-loved-ones-death/9199259002/Norman Miller
The Milford Daily News
On June 10, 2017, David Greenwood collapsed on his garage floor in Mendon, suffering sudden cardiac arrest.
The first public safety personnel to respond was a police officer who was not able to provide the emergency care needed in the form of an automatic external defibrillator (AED).
Greenwood, who was 54 years old, died.
“I trusted the police officer would show up and they’d have the equipment needed to help my father and we learned that wasn’t the case,” said Greenwood’s daughter, Jessica Skole. “Every single second matters — every single second.”
Greenwood was a healthy man and had just come back from a bike ride when he suffered cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest, which occurs when the heart stops, is different from a heart attack, where blood is prevented from reaching a section of the heart.
Greenwood's other daughter, Erika Greenwood, an EMT, performed CPR but a defibrillator would have been more effective.
Although it can’t be known for sure whether David Greenwood would have survived with an AED, he would have had a better chance, Skole said.
“It was a tragic event that changed our lives forever,” Skole said.
Because of what happened, the two sisters and their mother, Denise Greenwood, started six10.org, named for the day David Greenwood died. The purpose of the group is to help police departments equip their cruisers with AEDs and to make it a state law that all cruisers in Massachusetts are equipped with one.
The organization made its first donation in 2018 to the Hopedale Police Department. More recently, it donated seven AEDs to the Westborough Police Department.
“What we found is that this is a significant problem for smaller police departments,” Skole said.
AEDs cost about $1,200 each. Six10.org raises money through an annual golf tournament and donations to help pay for the AEDs.
In addition to donating AEDs, the group is working with the Legislature to require all police departments to have them because police officers are often on the scene first
“With every minute, the likelihood of surviving goes down 10%,” said Denise Greenwood. “If someone has to wait five minutes, they only have a 50% chance of surviving.”
Working with legislators, the group got a bill sponsored in 2020 to make it the law for AEDs to be in cruisers, but then the COVID-19 pandemic happened and it got pushed to the back burner. The bill has been refiled this year and Skole and Denise Greenwood said hopes are high.
“We don’t want what happened to us to happen to another family,” Denise Greenwood said.
To donate, or to contact the organization about getting AEDs, go to six10.org.
