Ten AED devices are coming to recreational facilities across Barrington in the near future. 

Members of the Barrington Town Council, at their meeting on Jan. 13, approved a motion to purchase 10 AEDs — automated external defibrillators — and place them at Little League fields, tennis courts and other recreational spots in town. 

The 5-0 vote by the council capped more than a year of work by the Barrington Park and Recreation Commission. 

Fletcher Thomson, a member of the commission, attended the meeting and shared information about the proposed AED purchase. Thomson told council members that Barrington Little League ran an AED pilot program back in 2016, where the league provided its coaches with portable defibrillators to use in the case of an emergency. 

Thomson said that officials found some drawbacks to that approach — teams and coaches using adjacent fields and facilities did not know that the Little League coaches had the AEDs, and the devices were only available when the ball teams were at the fields. 

Commission members researched the approach used by other communities, where the AED was stored inside a locked box at the facility. Should anyone need the device, they could call the local police department, which would dispatch first responders to the scene and also share the code to the locked box. 

The AEDs, said Thomson, would be available all the time, not just when there is a game taking place. 

Thomson said some communities keep Narcan, first aid kits and fire extinguishers inside the locked boxes. 

The AEDs are vitally important when offering aid to someone suffering a cardiac event. Thomson provided a statistic — a victim’s chance for survival decreases by 7 to 10 percent for every minute without a defibrillator. Thomson said someone having a medical emergency at Haines Park could call 911 immediately, but even a rapid response from the local public safety building would take a few minutes. 

According to a memo from the town manager to the town council, AEDs cost about $2,000 each and a heated case to house the device costs about $1,200 each. 

Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey wrote: “These costs can be covered through the use of national opioid settlement money the Town has received from various agreements. As of February 2024, the Town had a balance of approximately $200,000 from opioid payments; that balance continues to grow, as the Town has received multiple payments since then ranging from around $5,000 to $23,000.

“An East Bay community has used opioid settlement funds to install outdoor AEDs. To ensure this use is an eligible expenditure, the town provides a Narcan kit in each case along with the AED.”

Barrington Town Council member Jordan Jancosek supported the proposal. She also suggested that the town consider offering training sessions for use of the AEDs and also CPR. 

Thomson said the AEDs identified for purchase are fully automatic. He said training sounded like a great idea, but added that an individual without training could still operate the AEDs. 

“The devices that we looked into can be operated by someone like me,” he said, with a smile. 

Council member Liana Cassar supported the measure. She said this effort would also help develop public awareness about this issue — it is a good civic engagement piece, she said. 

Council member Kate Berard has supported the AED initiative for months. She said she was happy to hear that so many other people were excited about it as well. Berard said she had mentioned the idea to some Barrington School Committee members who also liked the idea. 

As it became clear there was plenty of support for the AEDs, council members shifted the focus to two questions: How many should the town buy, and where should they be placed?

Commission member Tom Rimoshytus said eight locations were identified initially. The commission later identified 17 or 18 possible locations. Rimoshytus said some of the spots do not have electricity, so they narrowed it down to 13 potential locations. He said some of those places would not need to have the AEDs in the winter months, so there was not a need for heated boxes at those locations. 

Rimoshytus recited this list for possible AED locations — three at the high school (one at the Eagles Nest concession stand, one near the baseball field, and one near the tennis courts across Lincoln Avenue), one or two at Haines Park, one at Sherwood Field, one at Sowams field, another at Little Sowams field, one at the Bay Spring Community Center, one at Latham Park, and single units at Bicknell Field and Chianese Park. Officials said any school locations would need approval by the local school department. 

Berard said there were likely many places where officials could place an AED, but she wanted to stay with the locations identified by the park and recreation commission. 

Barrington Town Council President Braxton Cloutier later made a motion to use money from the opioid settlement fund to purchase and install 10 AEDs inside cases, and also include Narcan and first aid kits. Cassar seconded the motion, which passed 5-0. 

Heading into the Jan. 13 meeting, the town owned and maintained 19 AEDs — one in each police vehicle, as well as two at the town hall, two at the public library, one at the community center, one at the senior center, and one at the town beach.