The Frankfort Rotary Club has purchased and presented 40 automated external defibrillators to better address the county’s need for the life-saving devices.
– Photos courtesy of Rotary Club
According to Rotary Club President Lynn Beck, the AED program was launched as a passion project due to his connections with the life-saving devices, and the devices have since been delivered to the Frankfort Fire Department, Frankfort Police Department, all four county schools and The Crossing, several churches, businesses and fraternal and service organizations.
When Beck entered the roll of president for the Rotary Club, he set a goal to dedicate his term to increasing the accessibility of defibrillators in the county during his first meeting with the new title. Beck began his career within the organization in 2014 when he joined a Rotary Club in Lafayette. He assumed the position of president in 2019 for the Lafayette club before experiencing sudden cardiac arrest on his travels home from Minnesota in November of that year.
In January 2020, Beck underwent five bypasses before returning to his work with the Rotary Club. As the pandemic began impacting members of his community, the Rotary Club in Lafayette ceased its in-person meetings, leading Beck to seek out the Frankfort club for membership.
“I loved my time as a rotarian, and then COVID came just after I had thos sudden cardiac arrest and had an open heart and all that,” Beck said. “During COVID, my club up in Lafayette didn’t really want to meet. They were afraid as many were. The Frankfort club was meeting in person, and I’m about 20 minutes from Lafayette and only about 15 from Frankfort, so I thought I’d just come over there and see if I can join them.”
The club elected Beck to assume the role of president the following year, but the elected president for the current term reportedly resigned from the club prior to her appointment, which disqualified her from accepting the position, which led to Beck taking on the responsibilities in 2023 rather than 2024 as they were handed down from previous president Brett Capps.
Beck quickly announced that his main goal for his term would be to introduce defibrillators across the county as a means to ensure that the life-saving actions he was subjected to on his trip home from Minnesota were accessible for people across the county. Beck stated that his experience with sudden cardiac arrest paired with a newer Indiana law requiring schools to implement automated external defibrillator equipment within three minutes of the school campus inspired his efforts to increase the accessibility in the county.
“I often ask the question of why I am still here, and I think this is it,” Beck said. “I really believe that the purpose of me being here is to raise as much money as I can to place as many defibrillators as I can around Frankfort and Clinton County.”
During his first meeting as president on July 6, Beck invited a representative from Cintas to perform a demonstration of an automated external defibrillator, which he hoped would highlight its simplicity and accessible design to help fellow rotarians and community members in attendance to overcome any fears associated with emergency situations.
“I want folks to overcome the fear,” Beck said. “If you see an emergency situation, are you going to react or are you going to be afraid? I am so thankful that the flight attendant that was on that flight with me did what she did because I’m here. It’s like a 9% survival rate. We have three minutes to get the heart going again and oxygen to the brain before brain damage begins to occur or death.”
Soon after his announcement of the program, Beck begun his efforts to receive grants, and he asked for funds from the Rotary Foundation that act as a matching fund, which would allow for the Rotary Club to pledge $5,000 for the foundation to match with another $5,000. Beck has also submitted grant applications with the IU Health Foundation, a discounted automated external defibrillator program and other hospitals and health-based organizations highlighted by fellow rotarians among other grants and programs throughout the fall and spring seasons.
The AED program appeared to be a gift of happenstance as he held aspirations to increase the number of defibrillators in the county but looked toward the end of 2024 or beyond as the beginning of his endeavor as he did not join the club with the mindset that he would be able to enact his plans as president. However, he expressed his gratitude for the opportunity and his passion for implementing the project regardless of any roadblocks he may face.
“I didn’t have any aspirations of anything, and I just wanted to be a part of it,” Beck said. “It’s that relationship. That’s the way I am. I want the human interaction relationship of others. I think I’ve always been raised that way.”
Later this year, Beck will end his term as president, and Vera Packard will take over the position for the Rotary Club of Frankfort.