Dairy West Continues To Provide Defibrillators For NW Dairy Farms

Farm safety is a priority for managers and workers regardless of state or commodity.

The loss of an Idaho dairy farmer last year to a sudden cardiac event was a sobering reminder for the Dairy West community of how quickly medical emergencies can happen miles, if not hours away from a hospital. Because of that, Dairy West has undertaken an effort to provide farms across Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Utah with a defibrillator.

Bryce Chambers, Director of Industry Relations at Dairy West says, unfortunately, in rural areas, help does not always arrive as quickly as it is needed.

“I'm not trying to be critical of the volunteers because they're right in the word, they're a volunteer," Chambers said. "But sometimes in the rural areas, in the rural proximities, EMS dispatch times are extremely challenging. The title slide to where I presented this to our board was 34 minutes dispatch time to a farm that actually experienced a sudden cardiac arrest event.”

Part of A Bigger Plan, Bigger Effort

Chambers noted it will take some time to get defibrillators to all interested farms across the four states, but he said they’re in this for the long-term.

“We're not going to just be a flash in the pan here," Chambers stressed. "Looking at some of the industry challenges that face us, unfortunately, last year there was an event that took place for the confined space issue in Colorado. Those are things that are top of mind with some resources and as technology advances, some of these tools that can be utilized on farms that can really make a difference in life saving. are things that we're looking at as next steps. So the defibrillator was the launch of this program on really gearing towards workforce development and highlighting not just to the processor, but also to the end consumer. The dairy farms really are taking care of their workforce."

Chambers said this is the only program of its kind nationwide, adding there are no other checkoff organization within the United States offering on-farm training, a cost-shared defibrillator, or on-farm CPR training.

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