Group Makes Lifesaving Offer to Cinnaminson

Committeeman Don Brauckmann was a rookie police officer when he responded to a cardiac emergency call at the Clover department store on Route 130—where Speed Raceway now resides—and found an unconscious woman collapsed in the lobby.

“It’s nerve-racking,” he said, recalling the roughly 20-year-old memory. “You’re the first person there and there are people looking to you to be able to fix what’s wrong.”

Thankfully, Brauckmann was equipped with a defibrillator—one of several the department had recently gotten—and within moments, and with the simple push of a button, the woman was revived right as EMTs arrived on the scene. She survived—as did the man Brauckmann defibrillated not long after on Father’s Day—and he received lifesaving medals for both.

“In 20 years in law enforcement, nothing impacts you like saving a life,” he said.

Brauckmann knows firsthand how indispensable defibrillators are, so when Maple Shade-based nonprofit Healing Hearts: The Tina Voiro Foundation Inc. offered to donate two of the devices to the township recently, he didn’t need to think twice.

“These things save lives,” he said. “That’s what this association’s all about.”

Resident Colleen Angelone, a family friend of the Voiros—Tina Voiro used to babysit her chidren—went to Brauckmann after members of the foundation told her they were looking for another community to donate defibrillators to. Angelone said the organization has donated 14 of the devices to groups in Moorestown, Maple Shade and Marlton.

“Knowing AED (automated external defibrillators) machines can change the life of somebody, why wouldn’t you (seek donations)?” Angelone said.

She also credited Healing Hearts board members Jamie and John Byres, both township residents, with coordinating the donations.

The devices will be located at Wood and Memorial parks, since that’s where the majority of activity—particularly sports activity—occurs, said Brauckmann. The defibrillators will be stored inside the new concession buildings at the parks.

Although the devices are designed to be relatively foolproof, Brauckmann said Healing Hearts will provide training in the use of the defibrillators to the sports groups that use the parks.

“The idea is to have as many people trained on them as possible,” he said.