March 2006 - The Renton-area community-oriented medical center recently donated more than $40,000 to the Renton School District to purchase 18 life-saving Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to place in schools and other facilities. An AED is a portable computerized medical device, used to jolt the heart back into a regular rhythm after sudden cardiac arrest.
The district already has 19 of the devices distributed at eight schools, Renton stadium and the IKEA Performing Arts Center. The district’s director of health education, Susan Lander, has spent more than a year on a grassroots campaign to raise enough money to have an AED at each school. Valley Medical's generous donation ends that endeavor by placing an AED at remaining schools.

The district learned just how important an AED can be in May 2004, when McKnight Middle School nurse Kathy Mahowald used the school’s new defibrillator to restart the heart of Wendy Sharp, the school’s attendance secretary, who had suffered a heart attack.
Valley Medical Center’s Board of Commissioners contributed the money as part of their commitment to the community after voters approved a tax levy in April 2005.