270 students in Pembroke and Renfrew to receive CPR and defibrillator training every year

Renfrew, ON – Training students to save lives just got a big boost at Bishop Smith Catholic High School and St. Joseph’s Catholic High School from the ACT Foundation! Both schools are receiving the needed training equipment to enable teachers to train students in how to use an automated external defibrillator, otherwise known as an AED.

The AED is a small, easy-to-use device (with voice prompts) that can tell when a heart stops beating effectively and delivers an electric shock to restart the heart. With many community centers, arenas and other sports facilities and public places now having AEDs, the importance of people knowing how to use them is high.

About 40,000 Canadians suffer cardiac arrest each year. This represents 1 cardiac arrest every 12 minutes, every day of the year. It can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any age.

Early CPR combined with early defibrillation can increase survival rates for cardiac arrest victims by up to 75% according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

“Easy-to-use defibrillators are appearing in many public places. The schools already teach young people to act, to start CPR. Now we want them to grab the defibrillator on the wall and use that too. These schools are teaching life skills that save lives,” says Dr. Justin Maloney, Medical Director, ACT Foundation.

The two high schools are receiving the needed CPR/AED training mannequins, AED training units, and curriculum materials to enable the teachers to train the students thanks to the ACT Foundation and health partners AstraZeneca Canada, Sanofi Canada, Amgen Canada, and provincial partners, the Government of Ontario and Hydro One.

This initiative will see more than 270 students from the communities of Pembroke and Renfrew empowered by their teachers with essential lifesaving skills every year.

The ACT Foundation is the charitable organization that is establishing CPR and defibrillator training programs in high schools throughout Ontario and across Canada. Mannequins and defibrillator training units are donated to schools and high school teachers are trained as instructors to train all students prior to graduation.

“We are thrilled with the support of our partners,” says Sandra Clarke, the ACT Foundation’s Executive Director. “Thanks to them, we are able to donate the needed training equipment to the two high schools. Students will bring their lifesaving skills to current and future families, building stronger communities and saving lives. See link to many rescue stories.”

To date, the ACT Foundation has set up the CPR Program in more than 1,790 high schools nation-wide, empowering more than 3.9 million youth to save lives.

About the ACT Foundation The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation is the award-winning, national charitable organization establishing free CPR and defibrillator training programs in high schools across Canada. ACT raises funds to donate mannequins and teacher training to schools and guides schools in program set-up and long-term sustainability. ACT is honoured to be recognized by the Governor General of Canada with the Meritorious Service Cross presented to ACT’s Executive Director Sandra Clarke, and Medical Director and emergency physician Dr. Justin Maloney in relation to the ACT High School CPR Program. More than 3.9 million youth have been trained in CPR by their teachers through this lifesaving program to date.

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For further information, please contact:

Jennifer Edwards
Operations Manager
ACT Foundation
act@actfoundation.ca
Tel: 613-729-3455
Toll: 800-465-9111

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