Eagle Lake Ball Park Had An Emergency. Now They’re Better Prepared With A New AED!
by James Coulter
Recently, a young boy experienced head trauma while playing at Eagle Lake Ball Park. He recovered and was taken to the hospital safely. However, now the ballpark is better prepared to deal with such an emergency with an automated external defibrillator (AED) donated to their facility by a local non-profit organization.
Eagle Lake Ball Park recently experienced an incident where a young boy received head trauma. He had been riding in a wagon when he fell out and hit his head hard on the ground, leaving him momentarily unconscious, explained J.J. Britt, vice-president and coach of Eagle Lake Community Baseball.
“He fell out of the wagon, hit his head, and was unconscious for a few moments,” Britt said. “The ambulance came and rushed him to hospital, and he was really good. He is good now. I saw him yesterday, and everything is good.”
Britt and his team recently received a new AED donated to them by Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation, a local non-profit foundation dedicated to assisting local EMTs and other first responders and raising proceeds to donate AEDs across the county. The AED was installed inside the ball park’s concession stand.
J.J. Britt has been coaching baseball for 42 years. He had served as an umpire when the children of Melanie Brown Culpepper, the founder of Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation, were playing little league baseball. He felt honored that Melanie was generous enough to donate the new AED to their facility.
“This AED has been a blessing,” he said. “We deal with many kids year-round at the park, and it is great that we have something in place in case something is happening. We are in good hands.”
“This AED will be huge for the Eagle Lake community,” he further elucidated. “We deal with kids regularly all year long. Playing new sports where we had head traumas from being hit by the baseball or bats. In case anything happens like that, this will be huge for the league. And it will get parents more safety that this is here, that we are prepared and ready to go.”
Kiley Lanfair, a volunteer at the ballpark, had reached out to Melanie on Facebook Messenger about the AED following the incident with the young boy. Now that the facility has an AED, they are better prepared for such emergencies.
“It is amazing,” she said. “I feel we will be a safer park for having it here…How she [Melanie] is helping the community is unfathomable. It will make our park safer for all our patrons all of our players, everyone who has come to our park.”
Melanie started the Culpepper Cardiac Foundation two years ago following the tragic passing of her fiancée, Michael Culpepper, who had suffered cardiac arrest. Since its inception, the foundation has raised proceeds to donate more than a dozen AEDs across the county. Her most recent donation proved especially emotional for her.
“Eagle Lake Ball Park means a lot to me,” she said. “This is where my kids played ball. Even my oldest child…J.J. was the umpire when my kid was playing. Now he is the vice president of eagle lake ballpark. My oldest son is 35. So that many years ago I have known him for that many years.”
The Culpepper Cardiac Foundation will be donating several more AEDs in the coming months. It will also be hosting its annual fundraiser, Saving Lives Matter, in September.
“It touches my heart so much,” she said. ” I wasn’t sure how the foundation would go at first, but I didn’t give up and now it is going better than ever. It doesn’t just take me. It takes a community as we are all making a difference in the hope to save someone’s life. Thank you everyone for being a part of Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation.”
For more information about Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation, visit their website at: https://honoringculpepper.com/