Waukon, IA The district bus barn and school bus drivers now have some updated and new equipment for their emergency preparedness use as of Monday, August 17, 2015. The equipment includes the addition of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) device for storage/use at the bus barn and new bus first aid kits equipped to National and State School Bus Transportation standards. This addition of equipment was made possible from a donation made by The Richard Lyle “Butch” Winke Memorial fund and his surviving spouse Mary Kay Winke from rural Waukon and nieces Michelle (Kerndt) Scroggs and Paula (Kerndt) Wickham. Both nieces attended Allamakee Community School District but now live in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area. Richard Lyle “Butch” Winke passed away December 27, 2014.
Mary Kay Winke attended the event with her nieces and other family members. The AED and first aid kit and supplies
funding was provided by the family and memorial fund as a way to celebrate and remember Butch’s dedication and commitment to children during his near 30 years of service as an Allamakee Community School District Bus Driver. Butch’s nieces are employed in the emergency preparedness and AED program industry, so the memorial and donation is dear to everyone’s heart. Stated Randy Nordheim (Transportation Director), “Butch was a quiet individual but was a dedicated employee during his tenure with the school district. The donation is a wonderful legacy to honor the beloved and missed #23 school bus driver.”
AED devices are a critical component in increasing survival rates among sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) victims. SCA is the leading killer in the United States and does not discriminate based on age. SCA annually claims over 300,000 lives alone in the United States; more people every year 
are killed by SCA than by cancer and strokes combined. The key to fighting SCA is defibrillation (use of an AED) within a very short period of time from the onset of SCA. The statistics show that for every minute that passes there is a 10% decreased chance of survival. AEDs allow for defibrillation during the initial minutes after 9-1-1 EMS has been called; those critical early minutes make all the difference between life and death during SCA events.
Having an AED at the bus barn helps to improve response times for the employees in the Transportation Department, which is outside of the main campus school areas where AEDs are currently deployed. The first aid kits were assembled in the USA, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The kits were custom labeled, showing the #23 bus on the front cover of the kits, and the #23 bus was parked at the bus barn during the event.
Interested in finding out how Think Safe’s products and training options can benefit your workplace? Simply contact Think Safe at 888-473-1777 or click on the More Information button, and we’ll be happy to contact you. Or, if you like what we do, refer us to a friend!