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By LAUREN ROTH lroth@leader.net
Monday, March 10, 2003 Page: 3A
For the Record: 3/12/03 The name of a family that raised money to help
Ashley Borough buy a defibrillator was misspelled in an article on page 3A
Monday. The corect name is Valushin.
ASHLEY – Mayor Rick Oravic wants to clear up a misunderstanding about
getting defibrillators for the Police Department.
Yes, money was raised to purchase one at a discount through the American
Heart Association last year. And yes, police never got it. And it’s also true
the borough was initially denied a grant to buy one this year.
But Ashley purchased two. One will arrive within a few weeks and rotate
between the two squad cars, Oravic said. The one that arrived about a year ago
was given to the Fire Department because police officers were not yet trained
to use it.
Oravic has faced spurts of public and private criticism about the situation
for the past year, he said.
“I’ve never been against defibrillators. I’ve only heard good things,”
said Oravic. When the Ashley Crime Watch was able to quickly raise $1,250 –
the community contribution for the heart-shocking device – through the
Balushin family last March, Oravic was caught off guard. “We’ve got this
defibrillator coming and I don’t have anyone prepared to use it,” he said.
He reapplied for the $1,000 grant this year and was denied. He began to
raise private funds to buy one at the full price of $2,250 before the Heart
Association told him grant funding came through. The Balushin family again
provided the difference and Ashley’s new automated external defibrillator is
on the way to newly trained officers.
Oravic said he will apply for the grant again next year to try to procure
another automated external defibrillator for the second police car, though
there is no legal requirement he do so.