By Deidre Williams
The Buffalo News
AKRON, New York — Life-saving devices were dedicated Sunday in the memory a 14-year-old girl who died after she suffered cardiac arrest while playing soccer.
Emily Adamczak was participating in an in-house recreation program at the Akron Falls Park Sports Complex when she collapsed on the field in June 2009.
Sunday, three defibrillators were installed at sports complexes in Akron and Newstead. Her family members said they did not want to see the same thing happen to anyone else.
“This was something that is very important to us, to get the word out and to get other communities involved to follow the same kind of game plan to get the defibrillators out there,” said Emily’s mother, Annette Adamczak, at a dedication ceremony.
Money to purchase the defibrillators was raised through community and corporate sponsors.
Emily, who had been involved in the Akron Soccer League since she was 5, had a three-year history of cardiac problems and was under doctor’s care when the incident occurred.
When emergency personnel arrived at the soccer field she was in cardiac arrest and was taken to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Amherst, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy suggested Emily most likely died from a serious heart condition.
“An artery within her heart kinked,” Adamczak said.
Two of the defibrillators dedicated Sunday were posted in the Sports Complex, and another is located at the Town of Newstead’s soccer complex.
The devices will be hooked up to an automatic dial system so that when they are pulled off their bases, a call immediately goes to 911 and an ambulance is dispatched, Adamczak said.
“That can make all the difference in the world,” she said. “You lose that five-minute lag time to find someone with a cell phone that works and can give emergency personnel directions.”
The machines also are user-friendly.
“It talks to you and gives you a description of what you should be doing,” Adamczak said.
Also in Emily’s memory, volunteer fire companies from the towns of Royalton and Newstead and the Village of Akron offered free courses in April for their residents in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid. Adamczak said 131 people were trained and certified in the program, which was sponsored by Rural/Metro Medical Services.
“There are gut-wrenching, terrible days, and there are days like today,” Adamczak said Sunday. “Out of a major tragedy, we made something really good happen.”
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