For those who don't know, long story short, my brother was 5 years old when he died in 2006 due to a drowning at a public pool. It was a horrible tragic incident, and it's really taken a toll on our family, as you could imagine.
An AED/defibrillator was not used (as per the 911 call, they asked, is there a defibrillator there? The response was: We're not allowed to use it), but they did have one on site. At the time, lifeguards were not trained to have to use them. Now, the Red Cross requires it.
We decided to start changing laws in honor of Connor... and on Thursday, 'Connor's Law' become a state law!! All public pools now require AED's in our state. We started it small, took it county by county, and got it passed in 4 counties in MD and then decided to try for the state.
Unanimously, it passed! Not one opposed it!
I am so proud of my mom- she's really the one to credit. She never gave up, she was in Annapolis all the time speaking to the delegates and convincing them of this. We thought the bill was dead a month ago, we had people tell us it was useless... Well, my mom wouldn't stand for that.
Maryland and the Connor Cares Foundation hopes to lead the nation in placement of defibrillators at public pools to help prevent needless drownings and other associated tragedies that could be stopped. Not only are AED's important for a drowning victim, but any patron of the pool that could go into cardiac arrest. Each minute that goes by, your chance of survival decrease by 10%, so having easy access to an AED is crucial.
I can only hope that Connor would be proud of us and at least he did not die in vain!
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