— Submitted photo.

Members of the Van Diest Medical Center Foundation recently donated an automated external defibrillator (AED) to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Webster City. Sudden cardiac arrest strikes more than 350,000 Americans each year, nearly one death every two minutes. Giving CPR and using an AED early nearly doubles the chance of survival. For each minute without such treatment, the chance of survival decreases seven to 10 percent.

The hospital foundation’s donation of an AED assures access to a device, should action ever be needed for someone who may experience sudden cardiac arrest.

Those on hand for the donation include (from left to right) Pastor Joseph Pierson and Bill Breitenkamp with St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and Julie Maass, Kent Bailey and Zach Chizek from the VDMC Foundation.