Cathy Thalken is a former intensive care nurse who is now serving Keota Community Schools. This past December, she launched a project to enhance the cardiac care within the buildings. 

Through a program called Project ADAM, Thalken is working with the University of Iowa Cardiology Department as well as faculty to make Keota a Heart Safe School. To receive this designation, a checklist must be completed. This includes establishing a Cardiac Emergency Response Team, implementing a response plan, staff training, and having accessible automated external defibrillators (AED’s). 

Thalken acknowledged the extensive requirements, but is not alone in her efforts. “Along with the support of the administration here, the staff here, and the university, it’s got to be a total team project,” she says. 

Project ADAM was started in 1999 following the death of 17-year-old Adam Lemel. Lemel, a high school student from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, passed away after suffering sudden cardiac arrest while playing basketball. An AED could have saved his life.   

Thalken says that Keota is right on track and hopes to have the designation by April.