RBC Commits $14,000 to Help ACT Foundation Bring Defibrillator Program to Sea to Sky School District Secondary Schools!

Squamish, BC, June 26, 2012 –Today, 9 teachers from School District #48 (Sea to Sky) will be trained to empower their students with CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) skills as an enhancement to the ACT High School CPR and Defibrillator Program. This training, to be held at Howe Sound Secondary School, will result in more than 340 students trained annually by their teachers to use these lifesaving skills.

Thanks to a donation of $14,000 from the RBC Foundation, public secondary schools in School District #48 (Sea to Sky) will each receive defibrillator training mannequins, training units, as well as an AED for in-school cardiac arrest emergencies.

“At RBC we believe the health and wellness of local communities is of vital importance,” said Darwin Billey, RBC Branch Manager, Squamish. “We are proud to be a long-time supporter of ACT Foundation and thrilled to be bringing CPR and AED training to Sea to Sky high schools.”

Teachers from Howe Sound, Pemberton, and Whistler Secondary Schools will participate in today’s workshop to be trained as instructors for their students.

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization that is establishing CPR and defibrillator training programs in all Canadian high schools. To date, the ACT High School CPR Program has been established in 220 public standard secondary schools throughout British Columbia and approximately 235,000 students have already been empowered to save lives with CPR.

The ACT Foundation is working with the Emergency and Health Services Commission to enhance the CPR program with defibrillator training and AEDs for public secondary schools throughout British Columbia. ACT’s health partners who are committed to bringing the program to these schools, and to all high schools across Canada, are AstraZeneca Canada, Pfizer Canada, and Sanofi.

Today’s teacher training is being provided by BCAS paramedic and CPR instructor Troy Gienger, who is volunteering his time to teach the workshop.

With eight in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring at home, empowering youth with CPR training as part of their high school education will help increase citizen CPR response rates over the long term. Moreover, 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.

“We are thrilled with RBC’s support for this program,” said Sandra Clarke, the ACT Foundation’s Executive Director. “With their support, we can enhance the CPR program in Sea to Sky school district public secondary schools with the addition of the defibrillator component. These are lifesaving skills that these students will be able to bring to their current and future families and communities.”

To date, the ACT Foundation has set up the ACT High School CPR Program in more than 1,600 high schools nation-wide, empowering more than 1.8 million youth to save lives.

Program Numbers in School District #48 (Sea to Sky)

This partnership between the ACT Foundation and RBC will allow the three (3) public secondary schools in School District #48 (Sea to Sky) to receive:

• 3 Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs);
• 10 AED training units;
• 10 AED training mannequins;
• Nine (9) teachers trained as CPR and AED instructors for their students; and
• 341 students will learn CPR and AED skills each year.

About the ACT Foundation

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization that is establishing the CPR and AED program in all Canadian high schools. The program is built on ACT’s award-winning community-based model of partnerships and support, whereby ACT finds local partners who donate the mannequins, AED training units, and AED units that schools need to set up the program. Secondary school teachers then teach CPR to their students as a regular part of the curriculum, reaching all youth prior to graduation. ACT’s health partners who are committed to bringing the program to British Columbia and to all high schools across Canada are AstraZeneca Canada, Pfizer Canada, and Sanofi.