Community Corner

Wanda And Meig Team Up To Honor Victims Of Cardiac Arrest

This information was provided by the American Heart Association: 

Meig Walz Newcomb of Madison lost her husband Chris on January 20, 2012 to Sudden Cardiac Arrest.  Meig and her Coldwell Banker co-worker Wanda Pellegrino, who lost her brother Bob Larivee also in 2012 to heart disease, decided they wanted to bring awareness to the importance of knowing CPR and the general signs of a heart attack as well as raise funds to support heart research.  So together Wanda and Meig, along with other friends and sponsors, decided to put together a Sock Hop to benefit the American Heart Association. 

The community rallied around the event and the night included music, dancing and education on the signs of heart attack and stroke.  Attendees were also encouraged to sign a petition for the American Heart Association calling for all Connecticut’s high school students to be trained in CPR before graduation. 

Over $4,000 was raised and a check presentation was made to the American Heart Association at the Madison Library on June 21st.  On hand for the presentation along with Meig were John Bailey of the American Heart Association, Representative Noreen Kokurada (Rep-Madison), Attorney Russell Brinn and Ed Pellegrino of Coldwell Banker.

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Cardiac arrest is the sudden, abrupt loss of heart function.  It occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating. Cardiac arrest can be reversed if it's treated within a few minutes with an electric shock to the heart to restore a normal heartbeat.  This process is called defibrillation and requires an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

The American Heart Association is calling for legislature that would require High School students to be trained in CPR before graduation.  Brain death and permanent death start to occur in just 4 to 6 minutes after cardiac arrest.  Early CPR and rapid defibrillation combined with early advanced care can result in high long-term survival rates for witnessed cardiac arrest.

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