CPR and AED Awareness Week: AEDs in Canada

June 3, 2010 - Automated external defibrillators are showing up everywhere in Canada, and they are saving lives.

AEDs in Schools

In Ottawa, every one of the city's 51 high schools will receive a ZOLL AED Plus automated external defibrillator, thanks to the Ottawa ACT High School AED Program, a partnership initiated by the Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation. ACT's partners--the province, the Sens Foundation, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation--have donated $280,000 towards the program.

These AEDs are not the first in the Ontario school systems. Last March, an Ontario elementary school student went into sudden cardiac arrest in the school yard. With the preparedness of the school, his life was saved by the use of an AED.

AEDs in Sports Facilities

Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) were just installed at all Hamilton, Ontario, YMCAs and YWCAs, thanks to the Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation's Restart a Heart Program and the Chase McEachern Tribute Fund. The Foundation, in conjunction with government, corporate, and community partners, and individual donations has placed over 2800 AED units throughout Ontario.

AEDs have made an appearance in other Ottawa recreation facilities, including at golf courses and city arenas. Last January, at the Bob McQuarrie Recreation Complex in Orléans, David Kerr, on staff at the facility, performed CPR and used the AED on a victim who had stopped breathing. And in British Columbia, for the second time, a seniors hockey league player in Nanaimo, was saved by his teammates using CPR and a ZOLL AED Plus.

AED Legislation in Canada

Currently, Canada considering the passage of the Defibrillator Access Act, legislation that would mandate AEDs in all public spaces including schools, fitness centers, and sports arenas. The existing Chase McEachern Act supports public access to AEDs and encourages their use by the public to save lives. This new legislation would mandate the placement of AEDs in public places.