[Publib] Defibrillators

[John]

We have one because a few years back a particularly, um, assertive county board member got together with the one ambulance company in Peoria--wait, I remember: the co. board member *works* for the ambulance company, so there was a natural connection there--and arranged for everyone under the sun to get defibrillators.  Probably even the one notorious *gentleman's club* in the library district gone a defibrillator.  We were trained.  We wrote the servile letter of thanks we were more-or-less commanded to write to the president of the ambulance company.  So far, no one has died, and we *have* had updated training.  In fact, we're about ready for more, because we get CPR along with defib training, and I understand the rules of resurrecting the (almost) dead have changed.

After we'd had the defibrillator for some time, the battery went bad and started beeping.  We took it out and put in the back-up battery.  It, too, beeped.  I called the ambulance company.  I had a very hard time--it was almost comical--convincing the service person there that, indeed, we had two defective batteries.  "Why, that simply cannot be!"  "But it is, it *is* true.  Come quickly, before someone dies and we have no batteries!"  Some time later, the person came, played around with the batteries, said, "Yep, you've got two bad batteries here," and replaced them.

I wanted to say something like, "My mother raised me to tell the TRUTH, so why didn't you BELIEVE ME WHEN I CALLED?"  However, I smiled sweetly and thanked the person for getting us up and running, as it were.

John D. Richmond, Director
Alpha Park Public Library District
3527 So. Airport Road
Bartonville, IL 61607-1799
Ph: (309) 697-3822, x. 12
Fax: (309) 697-9681
E-mail: jrichmond at alphapark.org
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