WILLMAR — Rich Feneis has a litany of stories about someone’s life being saved by an automated external defibrillator. One such story involved his brother, Bob Feneis, and his friend, Marv Erickson, in 2016. Both were volunteering at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, during the Ryder Cup.
As the two were walking down a trail, Erickson stopped talking and fell over, going into sudden cardiac arrest. “It’s like somebody turns off an electric switch,” said Rich Feneis. Thankfully, paramedics were there just in time with an AED.
ADVERTISEMENT “It ended up saving his life,” said Feneis. “Now he’s back golfing, and he got to see his daughter have their grandchild. I mean, what a change.
” There’s a reason why Rich Feneis has stories like this. They’re common ever since he and his longtime friend Joel Vogel started Advocates for Health, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make AEDs accessible in as many communities as possible. Vogel started volunteering for heart health organizations after he suffered a heart attack in 2004.
He started a golf tournament in 2010 to raise money for AEDs, which inspired Feneis to approach Vogel to start the nonprofit. An automated external defibrillator shocks a heart back to normal rhythm for those experiencing cardiac arrest. They’re important, lifesaving and very expensive.
Most paramedics have AEDs on hand, but in some communities, waiting for paramedics isn’t a viable option. “Where I live in.