PORT ANGELES – Peninsula College will have an automatic external defibrillator – the first for the campus – donated by the Port Angeles Rotary Club.
The donation was the first for both groups involved.
The automated external defibrillator, or AED, is a computerized device that is used to detect whether a sufferer’s pulse is present and to recognize rhythms that require immediate defibrillation.
The Rotary Club spent about two months raising money for the device, said Jeff Robb, club president.
“We wanted to place it in an area that would have a significant benefit,” Fire Chief Dan McKeen said.
“The college didn’t have one, and large groups of people are here every day.
“This will be placed in the gym, which is an area that people naturally congregate.”
McKeen, like Robb, is a member of the Rotary Club, which meets Wednesdays at noon at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant, 221 N. Lincoln St.
The money was raised at Rotary with “happy bucks” in which members donate a dollar or two while describing an unusually joyous event.
“The happy bucks will give back, and should [the device] ever be needed, the receiver would be getting the greatest happiness [of survival],” Robb said.
