The Residence Halls Association reached an agreement with the Department of Residential Life earlier this semester to outfit all residence halls with an automated external defibrillator, a device that can be used to restore regular heart rhythm in a cardiac emergency.

Prior to the start of the academic year, six of MU’s 24 campus residence halls contained an AED.

The process will be completed in two stages, with half of the halls not currently containing an AED receiving one this semester and the other half receiving one next semester, RHA President Zack Folk said.

Folk estimated the total cost of installation to be between $16,000 and $20,000, with each AED costing more than $1,000.
“It is a pretty expensive initiative to install them in all of the halls, but I think doing so is very important because these are lifesaving devices, and you never know when you might need them,” Folk said.
RHA began advocating that Residential Life install AEDs in all of its residence halls following an emergency situation last year.

James Jordan, RHA Sustainability Coordinator and residence hall student staff member, was asked to locate an AED during an emergency in a residence hall last fall, only to find that there was not one located in the hall.

“There was an incident at the beginning of the fall semester where I had to call 911, and the operator asked that I have an AED ready in case it was needed before an ambulance arrived,” Jordan said. “The nearest AED was not in a building I had access to, so I was unable to get one before the ambulance arrived.”

Jordan began advocating for AED installation in all buildings following the experience, although the device was not ultimately needed in that particular situation.

“I emailed (Residential Life Director) Frankie Minor immediately after the incident and emphasized that I felt we needed AEDs in all of Residential Life’s buildings,” Jordan said. “I offered to look into getting grants or applying for funding from the Student Fee Capital Improvement Committee.”
Jordan contacted MSA Senator Claire Kates at Minor’s suggestion. Kates had been working on getting funding from MSA to install AEDs in every hall.
“When I contacted Claire, she said that the consensus of MSA was that because the AEDs would be for the residence halls, RHA and Residential Life should be the ones to foot the majority of the bill,” James said.
Residential Life agreed to provide funding to place AEDs in the remaining halls.
“Residential Life was very supportive of this,” Folk said. “They thought it was a good idea when we brought it up to them and agreed with us since they implemented our suggestions.”

Residential Life also ensured that the AEDs were easily accessible within the halls.
“A lot of them had been located in the maintenance room or other places where they were not easy to find,” Folk said. “We expressed concern that they were not easily locatable, and they were moved to the main areas of the residence halls so residents would know where to find them.”