Housing Authority Receives American Heart Association CPR and First Aid Kit

Article by: William F. West - Staff Writer - Published August 20, 2025 - Please click here to read the article.

Angela Robinson, left, the family self-sufficiency program coordinator for the Rocky Mount Housing Authority, performs simulated cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a manikin that is part of a training kit. Providing help is, center, Tonia Grimsley, the association's development director for eastern North Carolina. At right is the Rev. Everett Silver, resident opportunities and self-sufficiency program coordinator for the Housing Authority. - WILLIAM F. WEST/ROCKY MOUNT TELEGRAM

Ninety percent of people who go into cardiac arrest outside a hospital die.

That is what Tonia Grimsley, who is the American Heart Association development director for eastern North Carolina, emphasized in an interview after she presented the Rocky Mount Housing Authority a red suitcase-style training kit on Aug. 11 at the authority's office.

The kit contains everything one needs to be able to teach someone how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The kit includes 10 manikins, an automated external defibrillator trainer, and a facilitator guide binder with information about administering CPR and first aid.

The kit was paid for by a grant from the Southern Bank Foundation.

Grimsley, in the interview, emphasized that the American Heart Association's goal nationwide is to have a person in every household trained in CPR by 2030.

Grimsley minutes earlier opened the kit and spoke to a group of Housing Authority officials, answered questions, and demonstrated how to use one of the manikins in performing simulated CPR.

Housing Authority CEO Kelvin Macklin said that the goal is to have CPR classes at facilities in the residential complexes.

"The Housing Authority is just not bricks and mortar," Macklin said. "We're about families and building families - and safety is premier."

Southern Bank Edgecombe County Executive Nancy Bullard, who also attended the presentation, said of the Housing Authority being given the kit, "We feel great about it."

And Bullard said when performing such a life-saving measure after someone suffers a heart attack, "Every minute helps. Every second helps."

Bullard is currently doubling as a co-chair of the American Heart Association for the Twin Counties.

Bullard said that other kits, also paid for with grants from the Southern Bank Foundation, have been provided to the Harrison Family YMCA, the Edgecombe County Health Department, and the Nash County Health Department.

Grimsley also told the Housing Authority officials of her outreach efforts, including having just submitted applications seeking grants to try to get the kits for the middle schools in Edgecombe and Nash counties.

William F. West can be reached at bwest@apgenc.com or 252.366.8126.