Petaluma High School gets a little bit safer

DAVID TEMPLETON
PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER STAFF
June 6, 2024

​A brand new, publicly accessible AED “Save Station” will be formally dedicated and celebrated on Friday, June 14, at Petaluma High School’s outdoor sports complex. The ceremony, taking place at 4 p.m., will officially mark the installation of the new automated external defibrillator, made possible by a donation from Lefler family and the Just1Mike Foundation. The new Save Station is to be mounted on the outside wall of the concession stand.

“After reading the story of a young life saved in Sonoma,” states a media release distributed by the Just1Mike Foundation, “on the Sonoma Valley High School basketball courts, Nancy Lefler of Petaluma reached out to the Just1Mike Foundation, which donated the AED that was used to help save a 16-year-old boy’s life.”

The foundation was established after the 2016 death of teenager Michael Brindley, who collapsed after experiencing cardiac arrest during a summertime basketball camp. A budding sports broadcaster, Brindley, before his death, had created a blog site titled “just1mike,” the name of which was used for the foundation his family established to put AED equipment on school campuses.

The foundation has placed 32 AEDs since 2020, 22 of them in Sonoma County. It was one of those that saved the life of a teenager in June of 2022. It was that story that inspired Lefler to reach out to the Just1Mike Foundation. Lefler asked about bringing a Save Station to
Petaluma’s outdoor sports complex in honor of her son, Trevor Lefler.

“When Trevor was a junior at Petaluma High School, we learned that he had an undiagnosed heart condition that put him at risk for sudden cardiac arrest,” Lefler is quote in the media release. “We feel very fortunate to have been made aware of this condition and the repair was done for Trevor, who was a student athlete and very active teen, before something terrible happened.”

​The Friday afternoon ceremony is open to the public. The Ellison Field sports complex at Petaluma High School is at the corner of Hayes Lane and Webster Street.

Link to the original article online:  www.petaluma360.com/article/entertainment/petaluma-aed-sports-cardiac-teenagers/