Pixabay photo credit:JamesRein
At a cost of about $250K, over 100 schools will be getting new automated external defibrillators known as AEDs. While all schools have them, Education Minister Paul Dinn says after inspections, over 100 of them are outdated. He says they’re on order now and back in 2020, the Heart and Stroke Foundation equipped all schools in the province with them.
Heart and Stroke Foundation senior vice-president Katie Greene says a cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly stops, and can happen to anyone at any age, often without warning. She says every year 60,000 Canadians experience a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting and survival rates are very low. Greene says when someone experiences cardiac arrest, three actions are critical: call 911, start CPR and use an AED. She says AEDs are easy to use and can more than double someone’s chance of survival.
