East Hampton Village accepted a SaveStation — a public-access automatic external defibrillator — on Tuesday afternoon, following donations from the Tintle family to the Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation. The station, which resembles a huge fire alarm, is now hanging at the Reutershan parking lot restrooms, next to the softball field at Herrick Park.
“When my dad, Douglas McLaughlin, passed away in November 2023, in lieu of flowers we asked for donations to LA12,” Erin Tintle said by phone last week, using another name for the foundation.
On Tuesday, Ms. Tintle was at Herrick Park, with her children, Ava and William, and her mother, Barbara McLaughlin. “My dad was a lacrosse player,” she said. “My daughter plays lacrosse at East Hampton and will be playing in college. My mom felt this was in line with Dad. Lacrosse was the thread of all this. It’s a great honor for my dad’s memory. He was at every lacrosse game, field hockey game, whether it was us growing up, or his grandkids. His birthday was in March. Making a donation to the foundation is my way to commemorate him every year,” she said.
Karen Acompora, a family friend of the Tintles’ who, with her husband John, founded the Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation, was present as well.
“My son passed from sudden cardiac arrest 25 years ago,” Ms. Acompora told those assembled, who, among others, included East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, Police Chief Jeff Erickson, Mary Mott, the chief of the village’s Department of Emergency Medical Service, and Gerald Turza, the village’s fire and emergency medical services administrator. “We started placing A.E.D.s in many locations, passing laws and doing everything possible to help prevent sudden cardiac arrests, and changing the number of lives lost to sudden cardiac arrest.”
In fact, according to the foundation’s website, 126 lives have been saved since Louis’s Law was passed in 2002 mandating all schools, kindergarten through 12th grade, including charter schools, have an A.E.D. on campus, with staff trained in its use.
“These devices really do save lives,” said Mayor Larsen. “We just had one at the high school, a young boy at the high school was saved with this.”
“The only reason he is here is because of the A.E.D. at the school,” said East Hampton School Superintendent Adam Fine.
“This is the third save by an A.E.D. that has happened at East Hampton High School, which is absolutely amazing,” added Kathy Masterson, the district’s athletic director. “I have no idea why they are not prominent in everyone’s household, just like a fire extinguisher.”
Deb Hennig, a co-founder of SaveStation, demonstrated how the A.E.D. is used. When the cover is lifted, local emergency services are alerted.
“They’re not just for trained responders,” she said. “Anyone’s allowed to use it. We need to break down those barriers. It’s often what the public does before E.M.S. arrives that really makes the difference between life and death.”
“We know that with every minute that passes and something like an A.E.D. or CPR isn’t used, your chance of survival drops by 10 percent,” said Ms. Acompora.
After the demonstration the group slowly dispersed, likely safer than when they arrived.
