Mayo distributes AEDs in the community

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — For the fourth straight year, Mayo Regional Hospital has been able to distribute Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to public access points throughout the central Maine region in an initiative to enhance cardiac care.

    Mayo staged the fourth annual Dennis Allen Memorial Golf Classic on Aug. 28, 2012 at the Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro. The tournament honors the memory of Allen, who died in 2008 of a heart attack after serving for 30 years as chief financial officer at Mayo.

    Proceeds from the tournament are used by Mayo to combat heart disease in Piscataquis, Penobscot and Somerset counties, as part of Mayo’s commitment to the Maine HeartSafe Communities initiative. Funds netted from the four tournaments have been used to buy 62 AEDs, with eight devices recently purchased with funds raised at last year’s event.

    Four of the most recent AEDs have been distributed to the long-term care facilities in Mayo’s service area: Hibbard Nursing Home, Hilltop Manor and Pleasant Meadows Estates, all in Dover-Foxcroft; and Dexter Health Care.

Two AEDs have been donated to the Dover-Foxcroft Recreation Committee. Another has been placed with Rowell’s Garage in Dover-Foxcroft, and one was donated to Uniship Courier Services in Hermon.

    In addition to the distribution of AEDs, Allen Classic funds this year have also helped Mayo Regional Hospital to purchase a computerized patient simulation mannequin. This technology  includes learning modules for the teaching of nursing concepts, skills and techniques, as well as an emergency medical services module spanning all pre-hospital levels (basic emergency medical technicians to paramedics) and covering an array of trauma, cardiac and respiratory simulated clinical experiences.