Comments & Curiosities:

Get out your checkbook. I know times are tough, but there are two Newport Beach people who need your help.

The first is Angela Edgerly, an RN at Hoag Hospital. Angela has heart dysrhythmia, a National Spelling Bee-caliber word that means “irregular heartbeat.” She had a pacemaker installed in 2003 then went back into surgery in January of this year so doctors could pop open the hood and check her heart’s electrical system.

During that procedure, Angela’s heart stopped. I’m not a doctor, but that doesn’t sound good. There are certain things and certain people that can make your heart stop, but that’s just an expression. When your heart decides to stop on its own, that should be looked into immediately.

Fortunately for Angela, there was a defibrillator handy which the medical team used to jump start her ticker and get her thumper thumping again. You have of course seen defibrillators in action, at least on screen if not in real life. Hollywood loves defibrillators. With the patient slipping away, a doctor or a nurse grabs two paddles, holds them to the patient’s chest and yells “clear” then zaps the patient with an electric shock that gets his or her heart to re-boot over and start humming, hopefully.

When Angela came to in post-op and was told what happened, she thanked everyone, twice, and decided that defibrillators are a good thing. She was so grateful to be given a second chance to be with her husband, Chris, and her 5-year-old son, Dylan, that she wanted to pay it forward. Because it was a defibrillator that saved her life, she vowed to start raising money to put defibrillators wherever people with hearts can be found, especially little people — in schools, libraries, theaters, swimming pools, anywhere and everywhere. If Angela has her way, no one will ever be more than a few steps away from two things – a defibrillator and a Starbucks.

You may have already noticed portable defibrillators hanging on the walls of more and more companies and public places. That’s because they’ve been proven to be more effective than CPR in saving heart attack victims and have been simplified to the extent that almost anyone can use them, even a columnist, maybe. How is Angela raising the money to spread defibrillators across the land? By making beaded bracelets and selling them for just $10 each, that’s how. For 10 bucks you get a beaded bracelet and maybe save a life. Can you get a better deal than that? You cannot. So far, Angela has raised almost enough to pay for her first defibrillator, which is where you come in, i.e., defibrillators No .2 and above. If you’d like to lend a hand, or save a heart, or both, send a donation to Angela Edgerly, 3026 Babb St., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

The second person that needs your help is Cyndi Doran, who lives on Balboa Peninsula and like the Lorax, speaks for the trees. Unless you were living on Neptune at the time, you probably remember the dustup some years ago when Newport Beach had to remove the ginormous ficus trees that lined Main Street leading to the Balboa Pavilion. It was not, umm, pleasant.

Because the ficus trees were busy doing what ficus trees do — devouring sidewalks and curbs and sewer lines — the city had no choice but people hated to see them go. Eucalyptus saplings were planted in their place, but Cyndi and others couldn’t help but notice that years later, the replacement trees are still, well, wimpy. They’re not big, loud “Hey, how you doin’, good to see ya!” trees like the old ones were. They’re puny, shy “Careful please, I bruise easily” trees.

But rather than complain about it, Cyndi, her neighbors and friends, and some Balboa Village businesses decided to do something about it. They have convinced the city to replace the wimpy little eucalyptus trees with big, manly Guadalupe palm trees that will eventually form a canopy above the street, not unlike the ficus trees that used to be there. To raise the money to make that happen, they formed an organization with a great objective but a frighteningly long name — the Community Foundation of Balboa Peninsula Point Buy a Tree Campaign. Whew. Cyndi and friends, and some local businesses have raised $20,000 of the more than $170,000 it will take to swap out the eucalyptus for Guadalupe palms.

But the other half of the equation is that the city has agreed to match whatever the group raises and, drum roll please — city workers are scheduled to start lining Main Street by the Balboa Pavilion with the new trees sometime after Labor Day weekend. “It has been interesting to see everybody working together on this, said David Muller, president of the Balboa Village Business Improvement District.

“Even if someone donates $20 or $30, every bit helps,” said Cyndi Doran. “This will give us a quaint Balboa look again that we’ve always had.” Want to help? Good for you. You can send a donation to: The Community Foundation of Balboa Peninsula Point, Attn: CL Doran, P.O. Box 4322, Newport Beach, CA 92661. Make your check payable to — brace yourself: the Community Foundation of Balboa Peninsula Point Buy a Tree Campaign. Hmm. I’m not sure how wide checks are in Balboa Village, but mine are only about 4 inches.

So there you have it — coronary dysrhythmia, wimpy trees and las palmas de Guadalupe. “You gotta have heart…all you really need is heart!” Know what’s that’s from? “Damn Yankees” with Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston and Tab Hunter in the movie version.

What does that have to with trees or defibrillators? Nothing. I just like the movie. I gotta go.

PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs Sundays. He may be reached at ptrb4@aol.com .