by James Coulter

Dyan Romano had a heart attack ten years ago. While her emergency did not require a defibrillator, the need for one at her workplace was certainly on her heart.

So, last year, this special education paraprofessional reached out to Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) donated to Mater Academy Davenport.

On Wednesday evening, the AED was donated and installed inside the school cafeteria by Melanie Brown Culpepper and her team of volunteers. She offered a brief presentation about her organization and a demonstration of the AED to the school staff including its mascot, Sparky the Dragon.

Dyan Romano had reached out to the organization to have an AED donated to her workplace. While she hopes that the device never needs to be used, she is grateful for its existence in case such an emergency arises.

“I think it is a blessing,” she said. “If you can save a life, we have this machine that will do that. It is wonderful that if there is an emergency, that we can use it and we can all be educated to use it.”

Mater Academy Davenport is a tuition-free charter school serving students from kindergarten to eighth grade in Polk County. With such a diverse student body, Principal Erica Sanchez was grateful to have such a device donated to her school in case of an emergency.

I was thrilled at the idea that we could implement any life saving measure that could potentially help to benefit ourselves and our school community,” she said. “When I was first approached by the initiative by our special education paraprofessional, I was not surprised because she is a person who is passionate about helping others and finding the opportunity to help others and she is very invested in our school.”

Melanie Brown Culpepper started her non-profit organization three years ago. She was inspired by the untimely death of her fiancée, Michael Culpepper, who passed away from cardiac arrest. She was determined never to allow anything like that to happen to anyone again.

Since its inception, Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation has donated nearly 30 AEDs across Polk County. Devices have been installed at locations including Tanner’s Lakeside, Old Man Franks, and Caribbean Bay.

“I am blessed to be here tonight,” she said. “I would like to thank everyone for supporting the foundation. Without the support and donations and sponsorships we could not make this happen, we never know when we will have this situation. You never know if you will have an emergency situation, and I’m glad that we’re able to continue placing them throughout our community.”

To learn more about Culpepper’s Cardiac Foundation, visit: culpepperaed.com