Low turnout doesn’t reflect subject’s importance at fire station event

It was just a routine anniversary back on June 19 for Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Station No. 107 in Sun City Summerlin. In fact, hardly any of the 50 or so folks who, a week earlier, turned out to hear vital talks and witness life-saving demonstrations by a contingent of firefighters and trainees even knew — or for that matter cared — that Station 107 was 3 years old.

Firefighter Darrell Garvin spoke of the importance of recognizing the need for cardiac pulmonary resuscitation and/or automatic external defibrillation, often referred to as shock treatment, within seconds of someone's cardiac arrest. Fire Capt. Mike Evans, in charge of Station 107 unit on that date, was there to oversee the demonstrations and answer questions.

David Steinman, president of the Sun City Summerlin Board of Directors, also was there. He wouldn't miss it. The truth is that were it not for Steinman, Station 107, located at the corner of Del Webb Boulevard and Sundial Drive, might not exist. His deep passion for firefighting and rescue work goes back to his early days as a volunteer fireman in Worthington, Ohio, long before he retired to Sun City.

"I'm a very big believer in that stuff," Steinman said sometime later, during an interview within the confines of Station 107. "It's life-saving stuff." No doubt the small number of residents who attended the program sponsored by the Sun City Residents' Forum also became "big believers in that stuff," especially after hearing Garvin speak about the essentials of CPR and AED.

"If someone is not breathing, the next thing is death," Garvin said emphatically. He made his point as he stressed the need to immediately call 911 and to provide aggressive chest compression if someone appears to have suffered a heart attack. And that was where detailed demonstrations and explanations on how to use CPR and AED came in. After being shown by firefighters and trainees how to provide the techniques, residents practiced what they learned on rubber mannequins.

Garvin noted that immediate use of CPR could help bring the survivability rate under such conditions to anywhere between 30 percent and 40 percent. Otherwise, the rate would be close to zero.

More than 14,000 folks reside in Sun City Summerlin, and thousands more live on the periphery of the senior community. So Steinman and Residents' Forum President Glenda Rogers had every right to be appalled by the light turnout for the program put on by Las Vegas Fire and Rescue at the Desert Vista Community Center. It had been advertised well in advance on billboards throughout Sun City.

"Maybe we didn't do a very good job of promoting this event. It was such an important program, and yet it was so discouraging to see so few people in attendance," Steinman commented.

Ironically, he recalled how it was necessary for more than 5,187 Sun City homeowners to approve construction of Station 107 in a special election before the city could go ahead with the facility. Under Sun City's by-laws, a minimum of two-thirds of the resident homeowners were required to vote favorably before the station could be built.

As it turned out, 5,518 votes were cast in February 2009 in favor of having the station, while 657 homeowners voted in opposition.

"You know something," said Steinman, "I don't know who any of the opponents were, but no one has ever said to me that this station was a mistake. In fact, not a week goes by since the place was opened that I don't hear a positive reaction from someone about having this fire station in Sun City."

Steinman was a loud proponent for the station from March 2008 until Sun City voters approved the initiative four years later. Construction also got strong support from Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown, who was then the Ward 4 city councilman; and from present Ward 4 Councilman Stavros Anthony, former Mayor Oscar Goodman and former Las Vegas Fire Chief Greg Gammon.

Steinman worked especially hard to make the station a reality during the first six months of 2009, when he served as Brown's replacement on the city council after Brown joined the county board of commissioners.

— Herb Jaffe was an op-ed columnist and investigative reporter for most of his 39 years at the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. His most recent novel, "Double Play," is now available. Contact him at hjaffe@cox.net.