Seconds count during a life-saving emergency. That is why the Tomah Health Community Foundation donated $850 to the Neighbor for Neighbor Food Pantry of Tomah to help purchase an automated external defibrillator (AED).
“Donations are very important to us because we rely on the community to help us keep operating,” Pantry executive director Dawn Pleuss said of the foundation’s donation which will pay half the cost of the AED. “Hopefully it (AED) is something that we never have to use, but will be nice to have it,” she added.
An AED is a lightweight, portable device that delivers an electric shock through the chest to the heart. The shock can stop an irregular heart rhythm and allow a normal rhythm to resume in a heart in sudden cardiac arrest, which if not treated within minutes, can lead to death.
Tomah Health Community Foundation ex-officio Eric Prise said organization’s donation meets its mission to support health and wellness programs in Monroe County. “This is a unique example of how the foundation’s work continues to meet the health needs throughout the county.” Prise said.
Pleuss said activity has picked up at the pantry at 1118 West Veterans St., Tomah with a 400 families served last month, which is up from an average 300 families a month. “I just think a lot of people are struggling right now with things getting cut and the price of food is unbelievable in the grocery stores so people are using us,” explained Pleuss.
She said anyone interested in contributing to the pantry can contact her at (608)372-6737. “Right now our commodities are going down so within the next couple of months food drives and money will be needed because of the operational expenses needed to keep everything going.”