By Ralph Echtinaw

St. Louis is the proud new owner of an automated external defibrillator and 17 tourniquets, thanks to a $2,868 grant from the Luneack Family Foundation.

The only cost to St. Louis property owners is $25 for shipping of the items, said Police Chief Richard J. Ramereiz, Jr.

The defibrillator is mounted on a wall in the hallway near the community room and multi-purpose room inside city hall. The tourniquets have been issued to officers to be worn on their uniforms.

The defibrillator is a ZOLL AED Plus, ordered from Mercy Sales (a division of Mobile Medical Response of Saginaw). 

Chief Ramereiz poses with the new defibrillator.

The community and multi-purpose rooms at city hall are rented frequently during the year, Ramereiz said.  During the spring and early summer they are rented almost every weekend for graduation open houses and at other times for baby showers, bridal showers, birthday parties, weddings and other events. These rooms along with the council chambers are used weekly by various committees for meetings. The police and fire departments use these rooms frequently for training. 

A cardiac emergency can happen at any moment, Ramereiz said. In the event of a cardiac emergency at city hall, there would be an undetermined response time for police, fire and medical services. Providing immediate medical care during the “golden seconds” of a cardiac emergency are crucial to increasing the odds of survival.  Any employee or civilian on site at the time of an emergency would be able to provide immediate medical care until the arrival of emergency services personnel.