Wear Red for Women donates an AED to Sacred Heart School

Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently donated an automated external defibrillator (AED) to Sacred Heart School. An AED is a small, portable device used to treat sudden cardiac arrest. According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, about 350,000 cardiac arrests occur annually in the U.S., and AEDs can significantly improve outcomes if used before emergency services arrive.

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.

Sacred Heart School received an AED from the Bothwell Foundation’s Wear Red for Women committee. From left, Lauren Thiel-Payne, Connie McLaughlin and Dianne Simon, committee members; Morgan Schmidt, school nurse; Lori Wightman, Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO and Rhonda Ahern, Premier Realty Group Broker/Owner and Wear Red committee co-chairs; and Casey Sumner and Trish Henson, committee members.