Jacksonville Boy Scouts win national AED video contest
Matthew Tyrrell, 15, a Life Scout earning his rank of Eagle next month and Eric Mathews, 15, an Eagle Scout, both of Troop 182 chartered by Holy Spirit Catholic Church won a national AED video contest sponsored by Cardiac Science and the Boy Scouts of America.
BSA troops and councils were competing to create short videos that illustrate the importance of AEDs and document the need for them in their communities. They had to create a 2-minute video that: explains why you an organization of their choice should have a defibrillator, describes the importance of an AED, and identifies good locations to keep an AED and why. Matthew and Eric both came up with the idea for the video. They created it, edited it and submitted it – all on their own. They won!
Cardiac Science and the Boy Scouts of America chose four winning videos and announced the winners at this years 100th Anniversary of the BSA during the National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia during the Guinness Record attempt of the largest CPR/AED training on July 29th, 2010. Each winning troop received two Cardiac Science Powerheart G3 AEDs — one for the their use and one for a community organization of their choice.
Matthew and Eric were acknowledged at the 2010 Jamboree as one of the winners. Matthew spoke to more than 300 scouts participating in the CPR/AED training. They are donating one AED to their Troop and one to Holy Spirit Catholic Church to be placed in their lobby. This is a tremendous win for their Troop and Church. The value exceeds $2800.00.
The video link is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAA-2jdd3Oc
Matthew was “Dr. Mario” and Eric was the Cameraman. A major influence with this endeavor was their Scoutmaster who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and was saved by an AED at a BSA Summer camp where both Matthew and Eric were present.
Matthew longs to be a Video Game Graphic Artist/Editor when he graduates from High School and Eric wishes to be a medical doctor. Both are 10th graders at Bishop Kenny High School. They have been classmates since Kindergarten at Holy Spirit Catholic School and have been in scouts together since they were Cub Scouts in the 4th grade.
Cardiac Science and the BSA formed an alliance to make automated external defibrillators (AEDs) available to camping, recreation facilities, and council offices nationwide. Cardiac Science strategically placed 32 AEDs throughout the Jamboree to keep Scouts safe during the event.
