Feingold gets $200,000 for school defibrillators

The death of a Wisconsin teen in 1999 still resonates in the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Russ Feingold's amendment to provide money for schools to buy portable defibrillators has been approved, adding $200,000 to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

Adam Lemel, a 17-year-old Whitefish Bay High School student died of sudden cardiac arrest while was playing basketball. His mother, and others, have pushed forward the ADAM Act (Automated Defibrillators in Adam’s Memory) to fund a national clearinghouse to help schools buy the life-saving devices and train staff to use them.

"The more we can do to educate our schools and communities on how to obtain and operate AEDs (automated external defibrillators), the more lives we can save,” Feingold said.

The Senate also added $3 milltion to the Rural AED program, which, since 2002, has helped provide $45 million in defibrillator grants to rural communities.