Heart Devices for Anaheim High Schools

Anaheim Union High School trustees voted 3 to 1 Thursday to buy each of the district’s 10 campuses a heart defibrillator, a device to treat sudden cardiac arrest or arrhythmia.

School board President Katherine H. Smith, who made the proposal, said the district would be the first in the nation with such a program, which would cost about $30,000 and involve training employees to use the machines.

Trustees Thomas Holguin and Harald G. Martin enthusiastically backed the plan, noting that a woman in Anaheim was saved by one of the devices earlier this week.

Voting “no” was Trustee Alexandria Coronado, who said, “In our 102-year history, we can’t find anybody who has ever needed one of these. I would never want anyone to pass away on one of our campuses, but I can’t justify the expense. That’s half a teacher’s salary.”

Holguin responded: “But you could save a whole teacher’s life.”