Boy saves sister’s life with Heimlich Manoeuvre

She rushed to her grandmother who tried to help but the panicking child pushed her away. Her grandmother then called to Julie’s brother, Daniel, who had learned CPR earlier that year at École secondaire Samuel-Genest in Ottawa.

“I was a bit scared but I knew what to do right away,” says Daniel, 14, who performed the Heimlich Manoeuvre and saved his sister’s life. “I didn’t really think about that until later. I just did what I had to do.”

“Daniel still doesn’t realize what a wonderful gift he gave his sister and his whole family,” his grandmother adds. Daniel’s parents are grateful he learned CPR in school. “Otherwise, she would have died,” says Mrs. Lafreniere.

The ACT High School CPR Program was made possible at École secondaire Samuel-Genest thanks to generous community and provincial-level support which enabled the donation of mannequins, teacher training and curriculum resources. The lead community partner in Ottawa is the Kiwanis Club of Ottawa. The print partner which donates the printing of the student manual is the Ottawa Citizen. Provincial partners of the program are the Government of Ontario, Hydro One, Shoppers Drug Mart, and The Ontario Trillium Foundation.

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 Ontario 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.