Catherine Violet Hubbard (CVH) Animal Sanctuary celebrated receiving an automatic external defibrillator (AED) from Visiting Nurse Association of Newtown (VNA) on Tuesday, June 9.

While VNA typically holds its meetings at Newtown Volunteer Ambulance, they met at Catherine's Learning Barn on Tuesday afternoon to join Jennifer Hubbard, president of CVH Animal Sanctuary, in recognizing the donation.

The AED was donated by VNA to the sanctuary in July of 2025, so the recognition served as a way for Hubbard to thank the group, as well as show them the AED and the plaque hanging above it dedicated to them.

The plaque reads, "This defibrillator was graciously donated by Newtown Visiting Nurses — July 2025."

Hubbard thanked everyone for being there, noting that the sanctuary was built to welcome people of all ages. Its goal, she said, is to provide a dedicated space that protects animals, offer educational programs and workshops, and inspire a love for animals.

"And you, of all people, understand the power of compassion," Hubbard told the VNA members in attendance.

She mentioned how her daughter, Catherine Violet Hubbard, was driven by compassion herself. Hubbard said her daughter was so driven to take care of animals that she made business cards at the age of 5. Despite being so young, Catherine excitedly made the business cards for "Catherine's Animal Shelter," giving herself the title of "Care Taker."

"And so, your generous contributions to this beautiful space ensures that all of the communities who walk in here, should they ever have an issue, stay safe," Hubbard said.

Not only does CVH Animal Sanctuary now have a defibrillator, but Hubbard said she and other staff all went through training on how to use it.

To thank VNA for its support, Hubbard presented the group with one of Catherine's business cards, kept safe in a frame.

Mary Tietjen, who is the president of VNA, said the AED is one of the group's many donations.

The VNA has a thrift shop located behind Edmond Town Hall, which is open to the public every Saturday from 9 am to noon. Each month, the group takes one Saturday's profits and donates it to a local, health-related nonprofit.

In the past year, VNA has donated to: Newtown Youth & Family Services, Children's Adventure Center, Newtown Suicide Prevention's Nursing Scholarship, Protect Our Pollinators, Newtown Parks & Recreation's Summer Camp Fund, Newtown Middle School Garden and Outdoor Classroom project, and more.

It also recently donated two AEDs to Edmond Town Hall.

"And we do many things like that every month," Tietjen said.

A part of it, she added, is encouraging health advocacy and awareness on how people can take care of not just themselves, but others.

An AED can be especially useful. Tietjen noted a situation last year where a group of people were playing basketball in Edmond Town Hall's gym when one suddenly went unconscious in what was actually a heart attack.

Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps (NVAC) Chief Michelle Greenspan, when talking to The Newtown Bee about the event last year, said out-of-hospital cardiac arrests have a very low survival rate at about five to ten percent.

Two NVAC EMTs got onto the scene, with one identifying the situation as a heart attack, advising bystanders to continue high-quality CPR, and initiated BVM ventilations, and set up the AED.

"And so, when the ambulance finally came, they said this saved his life because you have to be very quick about situations like that," Tietjen said. "So donating something like an AED can really help ... and we're going to continue to [make donations like] that for as long as we can."

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.