The Brightside: Girl Scout Member Provides AED’s

CAMDEN, Del. – One Delaware teen’s passion for her community, love for softball, and interest in health care led to implementing some much-needed life-saving devices at a little league park in Camden. “I can bring together the two things that I love the most, softball and health care, and put them together and develop something that I think is so beneficial,” says student, athlete, and Girl Scout member, Allyson McLellan.

Automated External Defibrillator, or AED for short; it’s a medical life-saving device that has been an area of focus for McLellan for the past year. “Last year I had a pretty bad collision when I was playing in a softball game and I just ended up with a few bruised ribs, but it got me thinking that a lot of stuff can happen that way.” McLellan, who has been an athlete her whole life, clearly knows just how quickly accidents can happen.

However, following her own experience, and the national coverage of Damar Hamlin, the NFL player who collapsed on the field after a heart issue, she realized something had to be done; and these AED devices were the answer. She tells us, “I was thinking, what if something bad happens, is there an AED somewhere, are people comfortable enough with them to use them if something happened.”

This concern became the center of her Girl Scout Gold Award Project; Find something to improve in her community that’s also sustainable. McLellan says adding a few layers of protection to the Camden-Wyoming Little League park where she’s spent the majority of her childhood, seemed to be a good solution. “It makes people feel more comfortable if something happens here, there are people here, and there are things here that we can use. So it’s just a matter of knowing where they are and just getting to them, bringing it out to whoever needs it, and you follow the instructions on it.”

Part of the process of implementing these devices was surveying her community on whether people were even familiar with them. This tactic combined with help from a friend’s parents who happens to be a paramedic, McLellan took advantage of the opportunity to better educate those who frequent the park. “I found that there’s only one AED that’s far from a lot of the fields here and that a lot of people weren’t comfortable with it. So I thought that was something that needed to be changed to protect everyone who plays here.”

While the park started with just one AED, McLellan tells WMDT, the proximity to it for many of the fields would make it a challenge in the case of an emergency. So with the help of the community and donations, she was able to install three which were introduced on opening day. “We got them installed, the only thing left is to get the signs up and do a little bit more education with parents and families,” says McLellan.

The AEDs can walk you through exactly how to use them to help save a life. McLellan says it’s been a great feeling knowing that even at her age, she’s helping to protect the lives of those around her. “It’s important to show that we have voices too as a younger generation, it’s important to show that we’re able to step up and do things that we think need to be fixed.”

The donation for the AEDs was made by the family of Tyler Benscoter, Tyler played ball at the Camden-Wyoming Little League field, but later passed away from cardiac disease. So McLellan says it’s been an honor to implement these devices in his memory.