City expands defibrillator availability to all departments

Every City of Sidney department now has its own defibrillator.

The city had three before, for Sidney’s police and fire departments and Sidney Aquatic Center, and has added 17 more, Ed Sadler, City Manager said.

Sidney Public Library, Landfill, Electric Department, and City Hall now have the devices, as well.

“I’ve never been in a place where we had them but we didn’t use them,” Sadler said. “One time it was an employee. One time it was a member of the public. But we deal with some dangerous jobs, we do a lot of dealing with the public, and I would hate to ever need one and not have one.”

The devices cost less than $1,000 a piece, Sadler said.

“We got them at a very good deal,” he said. “Usually they’re about $1,200 and we got a deal since we bought enough of them. And we have people certified to do the training.”

The devices are easy to use, Sadler said.

“You can’t make it work if it’s not time to give them a shock. It won’t even light up for you,” he said. “You put the pads on. It’s going to monitor the patient. It’s going to tell you when to clear. It’s going to tell you when to shock.”

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