People pitch in to help school buy defibrillators

The Bigfork School District received $1,620 Friday to purchase portable automated external defibrillators.

The money is due to fundraising efforts led by Bigfork resident Serra Valentine, who is canvassing local businesses and homes to raise money for three defibrillators. Valentine hopes athletic teams will take the defibrillators with them to their practice fields.

The fundraiser is a response to high school football player Jeffrey Bowman's death in August 2007. Bowman collapsed on the field on the first day of practice and died a week later at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

His parents filed a lawsuit on the anniversary of his death against the school district, head football coach Bruce Corbett and former athletic director Shannon Smith, alleging that had coaches used a defibrillator when he collapsed, Bowman might not have died.

There wasn't an automated external defibrillator on the field when Bowman collapsed, but the school district does have four defibrillators. They are located in the high school and middle school gymnasium foyers, the nurse's office and the district office.

The AEDs are sensitive and high maintenance, Superintendent Russell Kinzer told the Inter Lake in August, which is why teams don't carry them to the football or soccer fields. Instead, they're stored in areas that see the highest concentration of students and community members.

But Valentine said she worries what will happen if another athlete collapses. The district didn't have money to buy more defibrillators, she said, so Valentine took matters into her own hands.

She posted 500 fliers around

Bigfork asking community members to donate money to the school district for AEDs. In two days, Valentine collected $1,570 from businesses and individuals. The district also received a $50 donation in the mail Friday.

Valentine said Monday that an additional $1,200 donation was received.

Valentine also received art donations from Eric Thorson and Midnight Sun galleries. Those paintings soon will be on display at the Bigfork branches of Glacier Bank and Flathead Bank, Valentine said. They will be sold by silent auction, and all proceeds will be used for defibrillators and accessories.

Valentine's fliers ask people to write "for AED" in the check's subject line to ensure the money will be used specifically for defibrillators.

She hopes to raise $3,600 - enough for about three AEDs. That amount may purchase two defibrillators and some accessories, including batteries and electrode patches, district clerk Eda Taylor said. The district's current defibrillators cost about $1,500 each.

Although Taylor is listed as a contact on Valentine's fliers, the school district is not sponsoring the fundraiser, Taylor said.

The district has to get school board approval for fundraisers, she explained. And while the district can accept donations, it also must seek official board acceptance for donations totaling more than $1,000.

Taylor may not be able to order a defibrillator until after the school board's next meeting. If the school uses the same company it has in the past to order the defibrillators, the devices should arrive within a week of placing the order.

Valentine said she hopes the district orders the defibrillators before the fall athletic seasons end. She said she also is considering raising money for defibrillators for other school districts.

For further information about the fundraiser, contact Valentine at 871-9471.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.