FEATURE
I
n the Fall of 2022, Neva Dengler hit a birthday milestone. It was one of those birthdays where you start to contemplate life a bit, and begin to approach things in a new way. She bought a new car and looked for ways to embrace life to the fullest, seeking out new experiences she might have otherwise disregarded. During that time, she kept seeing posts come up on her social media feed from the Sonoran Heights Middle School PTA. They were desperately seeking members. Neva has two children at Sonoran Heights, a 6th grade daughter named Kaylen and an 8th grade son, Travis. She was like many parents, and hadn’t really been actively involved in the school in the past. She rarely attended events on campus. “I thought to myself, you know what, ok, I’m going to do it and join the PTA,” she exclaimed. “You know, why not and I can check that off my bucket list.” What Neva didn’t realize at the time, was this small decision would end up changing her and her family’s lives dramatically. It started with one of the very first meetings she attended after joining the PTA, which was a November meeting with the principal and school nurse discussing an event at the school hosted by the Anthony Bates Foundation. Sonoran Heights Health Services Assistant, Kelly Davidson, had been working for years to try and get an AED, or automated external defibrillator, for the campus. An AED is used to help those experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. It’s a sophisticated, yet easy to use medical device that can analyze the heart’s rhythm and, if necessary, deliver an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm. “It was something that was near and dear to my heart,” said Davidson. “It is not something that I ever want to face on this campus without one, or be put in that position, so it was definitely very rewarding to help in the accomplishment of us getting one.” The devices cost thousands of dollars and were not required or common back when the school was built. So Davidson had reached out to the Anthony Bates Foundation, a non-profit organization in Phoenix, who coordinates large screenings for the community in an effort to raise money for AEDs. For those unfamiliar, Anthony Bates was 20 years old when he died from undiagnosed Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, or HCM. Anthony was an only child of Sharon Bates. He was an honor student, an Eagle Scout, and a Division I college football player at Kansas State University. “When he went to Kansas State as a football player, he was there a year and a half, and one day he called me on a Friday because he was concerned about making the team, because he wasn’t running as fast as he should be. I called the coach, the coach was going to look in on him on Monday. Monday came, and that is when he died.”
22 APRIL 2024