Wear Red for Women donates AEDs to Maplewood Church and Applewood Christian School

September 30, 2026

Members of Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently presented two automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to Maplewood Church and Applewood Christian School. 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.

According to research, the majority of sudden heart attack victims have good chances of survival under certain common conditions, including that the event is witnessed, the collapse occurs in a large public place, an AED is handy, and bystanders use CPR and the AED.

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, tickets will be available in January.

Maplewood Church and Applewood Christian School received two AEDs from the Bothwell Foundation’s Wear Red for Women committee. From left, Yelena Surguy, Applewood Christian School secretary; Vicky Hill, Applewood Christian School principal and Maplewood Church family; Dianne Simon, committee member; Lori Wightman, Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO and Wear Red committee co-chair; Caleb Sumner, Maplewood and Applewood family; Laura Wauchope, Maplewood Church pastor’s wife; Rhonda Ahern, Premier Realty Group Broker/Owner and Wear Red committee co-chair; Casey Sumner, Maplewood and Applewood family and Wear Red for Women committee member; and Trish Henson, 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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