Iridia Medical Helps ACT Foundation Bring Defibrillator Program to Coast Mountains School District Secondary Schools

Terrace, BC, June 25, 2013 –Today, Seven (7) teachers from Caledonia Secondary School and Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School in School District # 82 Coast Mountains will be trained to empower their students with Automated External Defibrillator (AED) skills as an enhancement to the ACT High School CPR Program. This training, to be held at Caledonia Secondary School, will result in 350 students trained annually by their teachers to use these lifesaving skills. Hazelton Secondary School received the ACT High School CPR and AED Program implementation in 2011.

The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation is working in partnership with the Emergency and Health Services Commission, British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS) and community partners to bring this program to the communities of Kitimat and Terrace.

Thanks to a donation from Iridia Medical, Caledonia and Mount Elizabeth Secondary Schools in School District # 82 Coast Mountains will each receive AED training mannequins, AED training units, as well as an AED for in-school cardiac arrest emergencies in case a student, staff or visiting community member suffers a sudden cardiac arrest at the school.

“Since our inception, Iridia Medical has been passionate about increasing community access to AEDs and CPR training within BC”, said Vern Biccum, President of Iridia Medical. “The work conducted by the ACT Foundation aligns with this passion, and we are very proud to be collaborating on such a meaningful opportunity that will equip the youth of Kitimat and Terrace with the skills and knowledge necessary to save lives.”

Teachers from Caledonia and Mount Elizabeth Secondary Schools will participate in today’s workshop in Terrace 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 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, BC Ambulance Service 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 AED program to these schools, and to high schools across Canada, are AstraZeneca Canada, Pfizer Canada and Sanofi

Today’s teacher training is being provided by British Columbia Ambulance Service paramedic and CPR Instructor Gil Kurtz, who is volunteering his time to teach the workshop.

“BC Ambulance Service paramedics attend over 3,000 cardiac arrest patients each year,” said BCAS Chief Operating Officer Les Fisher. “Although our dispatchers relay resuscitation instructions to 9-1-1 callers, a cardiac arrest victim’s best chance of survival is CPR and application of an AED by trained bystanders while the ambulance is enroute.”

With eight in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring at home or in public places, 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 the support from our partners,” said Sandra Clarke, the ACT Foundation’s Executive Director. “With it, we can enhance the CPR program in Caledonia Secondary School and Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School with the addition of the defibrillator component. These are lifesaving skills that 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 Caledonia Secondary School and Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School

The two (2) public secondary schools participating in today’s workshop in Terrace are to receive:

• 2 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs);
• 8 AED training units;
• 8 AED training mannequins;

This initiative will result in:

• 7 teachers trained as CPR and AED instructors for their students; and
• 350 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 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 and how to use a defibrillator 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 high schools across Canada are AstraZeneca Canada, Pfizer Canada, and Sanofi.