Some officials in The Villages are unhappy about a perceived failure to inform them about an AED blackout that impacted 230 neighborhoods in The Villages for up to three weeks.
The alert shutdown meant that volunteer first responders could not be notified if someone in their neighborhood was having a heart attack. They are trained to use AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillators) to restart or stabilize a person’s heartbeat before firefighters or an ambulance arrive
“The only way we learned about it was from our online newspaper,” Community Development District 2 Supervisor Bryan Lifsey said Friday at the board meeting at Savannah Center. “It concerns me greatly. It was totally unacceptable.”
He said that elected supervisors should have been told about what was happening rather than reading about it in a pair of stories in Villages-News.com. Lifsey said that if supervisors had been aware, they could have shared the information with their constituents.
“It is something each board member and every Villager should have been made aware of,” said Lifsey, who has been lauded for his outstanding work with Seniors vs. Crime.
He said the District Office has a structure in place for communicating with residents and should have used that apparatus to tell residents about the AED blackout.
“As an example, if a swimming pool is closed, a notice goes out to everybody. But lifesaving services are interrupted and nobody knows? What’s wrong with this picture?” Lifsey asked.
Deputy District Director Kenny Blocker disagreed with Lifsey’s portrayal of the situation.
“There was no failure to communicate. There was information sent to the AED leaders,” Blocker said.
Supervisor Barton Zoellner agreed that it would have been better to share the information with the supervisors who are elected by the residents.
“As a courtesy, it would have been good to have a communication blast,” Zoellner said.
