As director of special events for Scripps Health Foundation, Sandy Liarakos takes her career in the health industry seriously. She is passionate about making the community where she grew up safer. Liarakos, 39, a second-generation San Diegan, takes this endeavor to heart as a volunteer with San Diego Project Heartbeat, making automatic defibrillators available in public places.
“They are at the airport and other public places,” Liarakos says. “They need to be just as common as a fire extinguisher or smoke alarm. If someone doesn’t know CPR, they can use this defibrillator and possibly save a life.”

In her role at Scripps Foundation, Liarakos strives to ensure the hospital system keeps up with the growing community. “We have to make sure that those hospitals are able to serve,” she says. Her job is not only to raise funds for programs like breast cancer and low-cost mammograms, but also to raise money to establish the hospital buildings and make sure that the emergency department is large enough to serve the community.

“I love it,” she says. “It’s neat to be able to do something tangible, like an event. What I love about it is there is a beginning, a middle and an end. You can look back and feel good about the money you raised, and then all the people that were a part of it. It is very satisfying.”

She and her husband, John, live in Poway with their three boys, ages 3, 7 and 9. One of her quiet time activities with her sons includes giving foot rubs to relax them while she hears all about their day’s activities.