By MELISSA BEVERIDGE
Raena and Joey Bombara of Bradley Beach donated a Cardiac Science AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) to the borough lifeguards this week on behalf of the Eddie Heart Project.
The Eddie Heart Project was founded by the Overton and Bombara family in memorial of Eddie Overton, Raena Bombara’s father. Four years ago, Eddie Overton was on a walk with his wife and dog in the park when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. The EMS arrived 12 minutes later, but they weren’t able to save him.
“It’s in Bradley Beach that we decided to start the Eddie Heart Project so what better place to donate our first AED,” said Joey Bombara who mentioned that they were also starting a family in town.
“We started with one goal in mind: to place AEDs in the hands of future heroes within communities, to save more lives,” said Joey Bombara. “We’re donating to Dick Johnson’s team near the lifeguard station to have in the event there’s any emergency and we hope that it’s never used. We hope it collects a lot of dust. But if it doesn’t we hope to save more lives with it.”
“For anyone who works down the beach or walks the boardwalk, this is a tremendous resource to have down there,” said Dick Johnson, Head Lifeguard. “It can save lives and for Joey and his wife to donate this, it’s really great. Thank you very much.”
