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Alpena City Fire Dept.’s Continued AED Efforts

The Alpena City Fire Department and TeamLife have partnered to install automated external defibrillators all throughout northeast Michigan. So far, they’ve installed 21 AEDs in Alpena and into Rogers City.

It’s part of a program they started to reduce the risk of heart attacks in our area, and now there’s an AED down at the Alpena Small Boat Harbor.

“There’s a lot of people that come through here during the week, during the days, fishermen, you know, just many visitors,” said Community Risk Reduction Captain Andy Marceau. “So what better spot to have one, you know?”

Adding an AED in the harbor is just another step in the efforts to have accessible AEDs all throughout the area.

“We didn’t have an expectation of, you know, we’re trying to get 21 AEDs,” said TeamLife’s Senior Business Development Manager, Tim Ketelhut. “We were just trying to do something that was good for the community and kind of let the community respond, and the response we got was 21 AEDs. So needless to say, we are both blown away; I think we’re still blown away.”

As summer comes around and people head out to the water to swim or spend time on a boat, they can do so more comfortably now, knowing there’s a way to be safe in case of an emergency.

“The AED is here for all the boaters, for all our visitors to use,” said Marceau. “This is just trying to make our community safer.”

While you don’t have to be CPR trained to use an AED, Marceau will still train anyone whose place of business installs one, free of charge.

“They will learn the gist of using the AED, adult CPR, child CPR, and choking,” he said. “It’s just a great opportunity.”

As the program continues their efforts, they will begin the installation of more AEDs in the future.

“The ongoing support and maintenance of the AEDs and just knowing that they’re in the community, that you can feel safe walking down the center of Alpena is kind of the main purpose of this,” said Ketelhut.