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For Viola “Candy” Owens, the defibrillator mounted inside Daniel E. Rumph II Recreation Center is a bittersweet sight.
Rumph was Owens’ only son. He died after going into sudden cardiac arrest during a pick-up game of basketball at the Germantown facility in 2005.
To this day, Owens believes her son may have survived the attack had his heart been shocked by a defibrillator as rescue crews made their way to the center, but the building wasn’t equipped with the device.
This year, however, the device symbolizes the success of a nearly eight-year quest to place defibrillators in all 150 of the city’s recreation centers.