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Date: 10/18/2022
SOUTH HADLEY – The Friends of Buttery Brook Park are encouraging residents of all ages to visit the park for the “Saving Lives at Buttery Brook Park” event on Oct. 22 to educate the public on valuable life-saving techniques and for other fun activities.
The main sell of the free event will be AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and hands-only CPR training conducted by the South Hadley Fire District 1 and the Board of Health. Through a collaboration with KEVS Foundation, a brand-new AED will be donated to the park along with a climate-controlled box it will be stored in, so it is usable year-round. KEVS Foundation is a nonprofit that sponsors cardiac screenings for young people and helps get communities access to the proper training and tools for responses to cardiac emergencies.
“The KEVS Foundation is thrilled to be working with the town of South Hadley to provide a life-saving AED to support the pickleball and basketball courts and Buttery Brook Park as a whole,” said President of the KEVS Foundation Sue Canning. “Westfield [where the foundation started] knows all too well how important it is to have this life-saving tool available as we saved a resident back in March of 2021.”
Training sessions will be from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and begin every half hour. The trainings are not official AED and CPR certifications and are awareness trainings only. If anyone is interested in becoming CPR certified, they will need to sign up for certification courses after the event and can do so within town through both Fire District 1 and the Board of Health.
Friends of Buttery Brook Park member Kim Prough said following the opening of the new pickleball courts in the park she started hearing from multiple people interest in brining in an AED to the park in case of emergencies. At the same time, they were contacted by the KEVS Foundation to receive a donation of an AED.
The box will be strategically placed within the park accessible to all people outside. Prough added that since the donation was announced, most of the people who have spoken with her about it were not familiar with an AED and its use. This led to the efforts to make the donation into a larger community event to educate about the life-saving tool.
“The Friends of Buttery Brook Park together with the South Hadley Pickleball group, we felt it was really important to have this training for all who use the park and also felt we would make it a larger community event,” said Prough. “We are grateful to the KEVS Foundation for awarding us this. It’s such a great gift to the park.
Prough said they are hoping to have at least 200 people come through the training and the day long event is a good way to bring people to the park whether they are regular visitors or have never been.
Going on simultaneously with the free educational activities will be Buttery Brook Park’s first pickleball tournament. The women’s division will get the day started with a tournament from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by the men’s division from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. the pickleball filled day ends with the mixed division tournament.
The tournaments have already been filled with participants. For more information regarding pickleball in South Hadley, you can email southhadleypickleball@gmail.com.
Free food and entertainment will also be available during the day at the park as from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., all training attendees can receive a free lunch and different giveaways. In addition to the free lunch provided by some local restaurants (such as Whiskey Barrel, Ebenezers, Log Rolling, Johnny’s Bar and Grille, Yarde Tavern), all who go through the training will receive a $5 coupon that is redeemable at any Bean Group restaurant.
Those who participate in the free trainings will also be entered to win a lottery tree raffle with a guaranteed $100 cash prize. From 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. a beer tent will be available. Throughout the entire day, DJ KJStyles will be on site providing music.
The Friends of Buttery Brook Park, Valley Podiatry and ERA M. Connie Laplante Real Estate sponsor the day of learning and fun. The donation from KEVS Foundation also will include a second AED for the athletic fields used for youth and high school sports in town.
“The addition of the two AED/outdoor storage boxes to both Buttery Brook Park and the athletic fields at South Hadley are a tremendous asset to our parks, especially considering the high usage of both facilities. The KEVS Foundation is really amazing, and we are happy to partner with them,” said Recreation Director Andy Rodgers. “I want to thank the Board of Health and the Police and Fire Departments for their role in getting these installed and having a solid plan in place if someone has to call 911 and use these AEDs.”