It’s law in Connecticut for fitness centers to have automated external defibrillators, or AEDs.
But this summer, Bob Barlow, of Canton, alerted NBC CT Responds that not all fitness centers were following the law when he contacted us to say his gym, Big Sky in Simsbury, didn’t have one at that time.
“I’d like to think that nothing is going to happen to me or them,” he told us in July, referring to his friends at the gym. “But you never know. It could.”
Since our story aired, Big Sky got an AED for all five of its locations.
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection confirmed this after checking in on the fitness centers following our story.
But raising the red flag seems to have come at a cost for Barlow.
After our August report, the gym decided not to renew his contract in September.
“Manager handed me an envelope and in the envelope is a termination letter signed by one of the owners and she said it’s because of all the bad publicity that was brought onto Big Sky,” Barlow told us.
The gym didn’t explain in Barlow’s termination letter why it decided to do so.
NBC CT Responds reached out to Big Sky about why his membership was canceled and we haven’t heard back.
Per its contract, the private company “reserves the right to terminate membership at any time for any reason.”
“All I wanted to do was to have them comply with the law and hey, if they never had to use it, that’s the greatest thing in the world, but if they need to use it, they should have it and be able to use it,” Barlow said.
Connecticut law states that along with mandated AEDs at every fitness center beginning in October of 2022, the legislation also includes that an AED must be at a “readily accessible location” known to employees and there must be an employee on site who is trained to use it.
The Department of Consumer Protection does not have a dedicated team in place to check in on compliance, so it continues to ask gym-goers to help identify those violating the law.
Barlow says he hopes his experience does not discourage others from reporting,
NBC CT Responds Caitlin Burchill asked him, “Any regrets or are you glad you did it?”
He said, “Absolutely not. Because the one thing I wanted to happen, happened. They put an AED in all of their facilities.”
Barlow says he’s since found another gym with an AED and is very happy working out there.
Just days after our initial story with Barlow aired, someone working out at Big Sky’s Newington location suffered a medical emergency and eventually needed an AED.
On Thursday, Nov. 9 at 11 p.m., NBC CT Responds break down questions about where the gym’s AED was that day and why a national expert says fitness centers don’t just need the device, but they also need a plan of action in case of an emergency too.