Outdoor AED Enclosure Saves a Life at a Westfield Pickleball Court
On a crisp March evening in 2021, Scott LaBombard and friends gathered at the Municipal Playground in Westfield, Massachusetts for a game of pickleball. LaBombard, who also serves as President of the local Little League Association, had been trained in CPR and how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). He had no idea that as he made his first serve of the match, he would soon rely on those skills to save a friend’s life.
As the group played, they heard a loud crash from the metal bleachers. One of their friends — referred to as Q — was on the ground. LaBombard rushed over to assess the situation while his wife ran to a bright yellow cabinet labeled “LIFE SAVING AED” just feet from the bleachers. She called 9-1-1, and within 50 seconds the dispatcher had provided the cabinet access code and the AED was in hand.
Cardiac Arrest Response in Under 2 Minutes
Less than two minutes after Q collapsed, bystanders had initiated high-quality CPR, activated the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system, and connected the AED. The device prompted rescuers to stand clear while it analyzed Q’s heart rhythm — then instructed them to press a flashing button to deliver a lifesaving shock. Rescuers resumed CPR, and moments later — before an ambulance even arrived — Q had regained consciousness. He had survived sudden cardiac arrest.
The Right Outdoor AED Placement at the Right Time
Months earlier, Susan Canning — director of KEVS Foundation — had worked with the City of Westfield to install an outdoor AED enclosure at the playground’s pickleball courts. Named for Kevin Major, an avid youth athlete who died of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) in 2011, KEVS Foundation partners with schools and towns across Western Massachusetts to provide free cardiac screenings for student athletes and to place AEDs in publicly accessible settings.
AEDs are sensitive electronic medical devices. Extreme temperatures, moisture, and dust can all compromise equipment that costs over $1,000 per unit. Canning needed to find the right balance — keeping the AED protected from tampering, theft, and New England weather while still allowing fast access in an emergency.
Weatherproof AED Cabinet: Security Meets Rapid Access
Several AED cabinets exist on the market, but not all are built for outdoor use. Indoor cabinets offer no protection from rain, snow, or freezing temperatures. Some outdoor models are heated but lack the security needed to deter theft.
Canning selected the CE-TEK All-Weather AED Enclosure, manufactured in the United Kingdom and distributed in the Americas by AED Team. Key features that make this enclosure purpose-built for outdoor AED deployment include:
- Industrial-grade construction in stainless steel or polycarbonate
- Integrated heater that activates in cold weather, protecting AED electrode pads — which use a water-based gel — from freezing
- Marine-grade lock and near-impenetrable build to deter theft and vandalism
- IP-66 rating providing complete protection against dust and water ingress
With generous donations from Westfield Gas & Electric and Westfield Bank, the enclosure was installed in September 2020 outside a service building adjacent to the pickleball courts and equipped with a Philips FRX AED.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest: Why Outdoor AED Deployment Matters
While many things went right that March evening in Westfield, the broader statistics are sobering. More than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur each year in the United States. Over 90% of victims do not survive.
Survival depends on fast bystander action: immediate chest compressions and defibrillation within minutes. With 20% of cardiac arrests occurring in public settings, strategic outdoor AED placement is one of the most impactful steps a community can take.
Cardiac arrest is less common in children than adults, but survival rates are significantly higher in pediatric patients when an AED is nearby and bystanders are trained. An estimated 7,000 children experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the U.S. each year — a significant number during youth sports including games, practices, and training.
AED Access for Youth Athletics: Legislation Is Behind the Times
Many states still have no legal requirement to have AEDs on school grounds or at sports fields. Among states that do mandate AEDs in schools, funding is inconsistent and enforcement is rare.
The American Heart Association has developed resources to help schools create a Cardiac Emergency Response Plan (CERP) — a written, practiced protocol for responding to cardiac emergencies that includes AED deployment at youth sporting events. Every school athletic program should have one.
Common strategies schools use today each come with real limitations:
Assigning an AED to a coach or trainer reduces but doesn’t eliminate the risk — devices get left in locker rooms, vehicles, or on buses. When a school fields multiple sports simultaneously, this approach also becomes costly to scale. Devices carried to games and practices are also more vulnerable to drops, rain, and cold.
Designating a wall-mounted AED inside the school building may work for indoor sports, but creates serious delays when an emergency happens on an outdoor field — especially after hours when the building is locked.
How Forward-Thinking Communities Are Saving Lives
Communities like Westfield are showing what’s possible when outdoor AED deployment is approached strategically. Placing AEDs in secured outdoor enclosures at athletic fields and parks eliminates the human factors that lead to forgotten devices. It dramatically reduces the time to first shock. And it extends AED coverage beyond student athletes to recreation leagues and members of the general public using the same spaces.
Because 9-1-1 operators provide the cabinet access code, a secured outdoor AED enclosure also ensures EMS is activated as part of every response. These enclosures can also be equipped with supplemental emergency supplies — bleeding control kits, naloxone, and epinephrine — creating a complete public safety station.
Westfield Parks and Recreation Chair Michael Tirrell said it plainly during a public meeting: “We always say if these things save one life, they’ve more than paid for themselves.”
Q is fortunate that the right people — and the right equipment — were in the right place. Westfield has plans to expand its public access AED program to all of their parks and schools. It’s an attainable goal for any community, with far-reaching benefits for the safety and well-being of residents.