Alberta student saves neighbour’s life with CPR

Having learned CPR in his Grade 10 physical education class in Coleman, Alberta, Mike rushed to his next-door neighbour’s aid.

“Mike didn’t panic. Instead he remembered exactly what to do,” explains teacher Ritch, who taught Mike CPR at Crowsnest Consolidated High School. As Mike began CPR, his lifeless neighbour responded to the effort.

“It didn’t hit me until after, on the way to (the hospital),” said Mike on reacting to the developing emergency. “I didn’t think about anything except trying to help him. Everything just clicked into place.”

The ACT High School CPR Program was made possible at Crowsnest Consolidated High School thanks to generous community and provincial-level support which enabled the donation of mannequins, teacher training and curriculum resources. Provincial partners of the program are Alberta Education and the STARS Foundation (a founding provincial partner in this province).

The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation is an award-winning, national charitable organization dedicated to establishing CPR in high schools across Canada. ACT raises funds to donate mannequins, teacher training, manuals and other materials to schools, and guides schools in program set-up and long-term sustainability. Teachers teach CPR to their students as a regular part of the curriculum. Over 900,000 youth have been trained in CPR through this lifesaving program to date.

Core partners supporting the program in Alberta and throughout Canada are companies in the research-based pharmaceutical industry: AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Pfizer Canada and sanofi-aventis. They provide ACT’s sustaining funding and are committed to the Foundation’s national goal of promoting health and empowering Canadians to save lives.