Nashua North junior campaigns to put defibrillators in high schools (USA)

Corrin Murphy has a goal of one day working as a pediatrician. But for now, she'll settle for working to help save the lives of her fellow high school students. Murphy, a junior at Nashua High School North, NH, has been working to try to raise money to purchase automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, for the city's high schools. It isn't for a school project or for extra credit, she said. Murphy became concerned after reading about incidents where student athletes went into cardiac arrest and there were no defibrillators at the schools. "I don't think it's acceptable to have kids risking their lives without something to help them," she said. Last spring, her grandfather, who is a doctor, donated a defibrillator to Nashua High School North. But Murphy said that got her thinking about the need beyond her own school. "That made me realize, if there wasn't one for our school, then what other schools don't have any," she said. That prompted Murphy to launch a letter-writing campaign in December to local businesses and organizations, seeking donations to purchase AEDs for all of the city's high schools. Murphy said she has received a few responses and donations totaling $300, but not enough to cover the cost of a single AED, which is about $1,200. - Nashua Telegraph