AED tower ribbon-cutting ceremony held in Dewey
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Aug. 9 for a 24-7-accessible AED tower under cover at The Starboard in Dewey Beach.
The tower was purchased and installed last year using the proceeds from the 2024 Dave’s Dewey Dash, an annual 5K that has since been renamed the Community Matters Foundation 5K. Due to installation and scheduling delays, the ribbon-cutting event was pushed to this year.
The white-and-red AED tower is located by the railing in The Starboard’s permanent covered structure just left of the restaurant’s main entrance. It’s accessible at all times, including when The Starboard is closed, to anyone who needs it. Whenever the tower door is opened, a notification is sent to town officials to ensure help is on the way.
The tower features a photo of the late Dave Ashby, a Dewey Beach property owner who died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2019 at the age of 28. His mother, Laura, has been holding the annual 5K race in his honor to spread awareness of sudden cardiac arrest and to raise money to purchase AEDs for local businesses.
The AED tower’s convenience and accessibility could be a game-changer for the town. According to the American Red Cross, for every minute that immediate CPR and use of an AED are delayed for a person experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, the person’s survival chances decrease by 10%.
AEDs provide verbal step-by-step instructions once turned on and include pictures illustrating what to do.
Notably, Delaware’s Good Samaritan law protects people who, in good faith and without compensation, use an AED for emergency care, even if their rescue attempts are unsuccessful.
Since Laura started the annual race four years ago, she’s raised enough money to purchase and donate nearly 30 AEDs to businesses around Dewey Beach.
This year, another AED was donated to the town by a representative from Cardio Partners, an American Red Cross and American Heart Association nationwide training center. The AED will be placed in the boardwalk area outside the Lighthouse Restaurant.
Ellen McIntyre is a reporter covering education and all things Dewey Beach. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Penn State - Schreyer Honors College in May 2024, then completed an internship writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 2023, she covered the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand as a freelancer for the Associated Press and saw her work published by outlets including The Washington Post and Fox Sports. Her variety of reporting experience covers crime and courts, investigations, politics and the arts. As a Hockessin, Delaware native, Ellen is happy to be back in her home state, though she enjoys traveling and learning about new cultures. She also loves live music, reading, hiking and spending time in nature.
