Community event this weekend in Rigby to celebrate the donation of a life-saving device by a local family
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RIGBY — The family of a local woman who died last year are raising awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and providing life-saving equipment to the public.
Janelle Palmer, of Idaho Falls, died March 13, 2025, at her home due to a spontaneous coronary artery dissection. She was 36 years old and had just given birth 10 days earlier to her fourth child.
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In remembrance of Palmer, her family recently donated a “highly visible, bright yellow, all-weather, climate-controlled automated external defibrillator (AED) equipment” to the Rigby South Park at 355 Centennial Lane. The Aliver Foundation and Field of Hearts – Addie’s Mission, in partnership with the City of Rigby, will host a family-friendly event at the park on June 20, 2026, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m to dedicate the equipment.
“We wanted to do something as it was approaching a one-year mark from her death to remember her,” Palmer’s mother Sandra Bailey told EastIdahoNews.com. “She had a good friend … who suggested to us that maybe we should do a service project.”
Bailey said one of her children came across a Facebook post from Field of Hearts – Addie’s Mission, and it led them to decide what they wanted their service project to be.
Addie’s mission is “to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest, CPR, and the critical importance of AEDs being accessible to bystanders in outdoor recreation spaces.”
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“Addie (Cox) is from Rigby and was a high-school athlete and because of an event that had happened with her when she was playing softball in Montana, and had a sudden cardiac arrest, because there was an AED on site and someone was able to use it, her life was saved,” Bailey explained.
Bailey said Cox’s story resonated with their family. Palmer also loved sports and the outdoors, and her family felt that donating an AED to have at the park in case of an emergency would be a way to remember her.
Field of Hearts – Addie’s Mission is powered by The Aliver Foundation. Jill Pall, founder and president of The Aliver Foundation, said the nonprofit’s mission is to raise awareness and funds to place outdoor AED equipment in recreation spaces while also providing crucial resources and educational opportunities to individuals and communities.
Pall was inspired to start the organization after she went into cardiac arrest while at a park that did not have an AED present.
“It’s a beautiful foundation,” Bailey stated. “We paid the money for the AED. That’s all we paid. We aren’t paying anyone to install it. The City of Rigby installed it. We aren’t paying anyone at a foundation to do administration work. We literally just bought it through Jill and she as a volunteer does this work to help get these in place and work out the legal aspects of it.”
Bailey said her daughter spent a lot of time in the Rigby area, so putting an AED in Rigby was something they wanted to do.
“That park means a lot to our family as well,” she said. “We spend a lot of time there. Our grandsons play baseball there. I’ve been taking my grandkids to play in the park forever. We play pickleball there, and we spend time at the rodeo grounds … We were very happy about being able to place it there.”
The upcoming dedication and educational event will feature remarks from the mayor and the Bailey family. There will be children’s activities, an interactive CPR/AED demonstration, first responders from Rigby Police and Central Fire will be on scene, and a “touch-a-truck” opportunity will take place featuring their emergency response vehicles.
“We were really pleased to be able to partner with these groups to do something that means a lot to us as a family,” Bailey said. “As a family, it’s valuable for us to have ways to remember Janelle and have others remember Janelle as well. She was a beautiful person. We love to talk about her and when we talk about her it is a way of honoring her.”
