The City of Tonawanda Police now have new equipment to help save lives.
Seven new Automated External Defibrillators, known as AEDs, will be placed in patrol cars to enhance the emergency response capabilities of the department.
The devices were secured by Erie County Legislator, Democrat John Bargnesi, who has donated nearly 60 AEDs to various organizations and government agencies throughout District 4, which spans the Town and City of Tonawanda, as well as parts of North Buffalo.
Bargnesi cited Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin's 2023 on-field cardiac arrest as an example of the life-saving capabilities of AEDs. Hamlin was resuscitated on the field by medics administering CPR and shocks from an AED device.
"I think we all know the importance of what these defibrillators mean and how they work," Bargnesi said. "We all know what happened to Damar Hamlin and it brought it to the forefront, and I'm just proud that I'm able to secure the money and spread them out through the community as needed."
City of Tonawanda Police Chief, Robert Clontz, said the department's current AEDs are outdated.
"These new AEDs will replace the antiquated AEDs in our patrols, and it will continue to provide our officers with the ability to deploy life saving measures in a cardiac arrest situation," he said.
"To be quite honest with you, the units are fairly simple to use. You plug them in, you turn it on, and there's actually a pad that you put onto a patient's chest, and pretty much the unit does the rest."
City of Tonawanda Mayor, John White, agreed that the devices are "fool-proof," and added that one of the new units will be housed at Kohler Pool.
"We did not have one for Kohler Pool. So we are slowly getting every situation where there's a large gathering of youth or adults covered with an AED," White said.
Bargnesi said the new AEDs were funded by his legislator budget and secured in partnership with the Town of Tonawanda Paramedic Foundation.
