WAUPUN — Waupun Utilities teamed with the Waupun Area School District Parent Teacher Organization to secure funds for an automatic external defibrillator for Jefferson Elementary. The equipment was purchased in September.

"Our goal is to have an AED at every school," school nurse Marlou VanDeList said. "Some states require all schools to have AEDs."

There are currently AEDs at the high school, middle school, Washington Elementary and Jefferson Elementary. The unit costs about $1,500 to $3,000 for the storage cabinet, machine and training materials.

"Without the Waupun Utility's help we wouldn't have been able to afford this," PTO representative Karen Hopp said.

There are about 80 staff at the WASD who are trained to respond for CPR or AED situations and have been certified by the American Heart Association.

"There are first responders in each building who know what to do," VanDeList said.

School nurses VanDeList and Julie Bronkhorst trained the staff to use the AED. All of the coaches have been certified, too.

The AED is used for people who have sudden cardiac arrest, where their heart stops, usually when engaging in physical activity.

The AED is located near the gymnasium doors, across from the main office. It is about the size of a laptop computer and analyzes the heart's rhythm for any abnormalities and, if necessary, directs the rescuer to deliver an electric shock to the victim. The shock, called defibrillation, can help the heart get back into a normal rhythm.

The American Heart Association states that for every minute that passes following the onset of a cardiac arrest, a person's chance of survival decreases by 10 percent. Having an AED on hand can save a person's life. The AED is designed for anybody to use.

"It's very handy and so user friendly," VanDeList said.

"You just turn it on and it tells you what to do," Julie Bronkhorst said. "It needs to be used in conjunction with calling 911."

According to the American Red Cross, sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. It strikes more than 200,000 Americans each year, nearly one death every two minutes.

Grants are available for training materials and equipment maintenance through Project ADAM. However, they do not apply toward the initial purchase of the AED. According to the Project ADAM Web site, the program started in 1999 after a series of sudden deaths among high school athletes in southeastern Wisconsin. Many of the deaths appeared to be from ventricular fibrillation. After Adam Lemel, 17 of Whitefish Bay, collapsed and died while playing basketball, his parents, Patty and Joe Lemel, collaborated with Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to create the program in Adam's memory.

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