Wear Red for Women donates an AED to Best Western

November 9, 2026

Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently donated an automated external defibrillator (AED) to Best Western State Fair Inn. An AED is a small, lightweight device that allows individuals and first responders to treat sudden cardiac arrest. The machine automatically analyzes the heart rhythm and when appropriate, it delivers an electrical shock to the heart to restore its normal rhythm.

Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone and anywhere, and people between the ages of 50 and 70 are particularly at risk. To be effective, AEDs must be accessible to bystanders and first responders in as many public places as possible.

Funds for the device were raised during the 2026 Wear Red for Women luncheon and auction. The committee’s goal is to place AEDs in every place people work, learn, play or pray in Pettis and Benton counties, and it has already placed or committed over 130 AEDs in the Sedalia area since the luncheon’s inception in 2020. The 2027 Wear Red for Women event is Feb. 26, 2027, and tickets will be available in January.

Best Western State Fair Inn received an AED from the Bothwell Foundation’s Wear Red for Women committee. Front row, from left, Dianne Simon, Thompson Hills Investment Corporation vice president and committee co-chair; Tom Adermann, Best Western manager; and Lauren Thiel-Payne, committee member.

Bothwell Regional Health Center is a regional health center serving west-central Missouri with state-of-the-art technology and comprehensive health and wellness services including primary care, specialty care and emergency care. For more information about Bothwell and its services, visit www.brhc.org or find us on Facebook.

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