Timmins students to be empowered to save lives

TIMMINS, Ontario, June 6, 2005 — All five high schools in Timmins and South Porcupine will be equipped to empower students to save lives through a new program launched by the Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation of Canada with support from the Ontario government and the Timmins Kinettes. Launched today at Timmins High and Vocational School, the program will see approximately 700 local Grade 9 students from all five Timmins high schools trained in the lifesaving skill of CPR every year.

To date, the ACT Foundation has fundraised for mannequins to bring the program to half of Ontario high schools. Due to the tremendous demand for this program, the Ontario government has committed half the remaining funds needed to expand the ACT High School CPR Program to all Ontario high schools through a public-private matching funds model. Once implemented in all Ontario high schools, 155,000 Grade 9 students will be trained in the lifesaving skill of CPR every year.

The ACT Foundation has brought together partners to donate the resources required for teachers to deliver the program. The Timmins Kinettes have matched the Ontario government funding to bring the program to their community. Together with the Ontario government, the Timmins Kinettes have donated 120 CPR mannequins to Timmins high schools. Shoppers Drug Mart has sponsored the printing of the classroom materials (student and teacher manuals) for the program.

“The Kinette Club of Timmins follows our national motto of serving our community’s greatest needs. When we were first approached about this project we knew instantly that this was a program we wanted to support. Helping students to save lives can only benefit everyone. We’re very proud to be associated with this project,” says Darlene Bate, President of the Kinette Club of Timmins.

Research indicates that CPR response by citizens can improve the out-of-hospital survival rate for cardiac arrest almost fourfold. With 85 per cent of 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.

“This is an exciting time. We know CPR, when performed properly and in a timely fashion, saves lives. Yet, public knowledge of CPR is poor,” says Dr. Chris Loreto, Medical Director, Timmins & District Hospital. “We now have a venue in which this potential life saving intervention will be taught to a new generation. This will only improve the heart health of our community.”

Dr. Loreto and the Timmins & District Hospital have assured that physical education teachers are trained to deliver the CPR course to their students, at no cost to the schools or teachers.

Through the ACT High School CPR Program, every Grade 9 student in Timmins and South Porcupine will be prepared to help a parent or grandparent should they experience a heart attack; a brother, sister or child they are babysitting should they choke; or a friend involved in a drowning emergency. The participating five schools represent the District School Board of Ontario Northeast, the Conseil scolaire de district du Nord-Est de l’Ontario, the Conseil scolaire de district catholique des Grandes Rivières, and the Northeastern Catholic District School Board.

In addition to the Ontario government, the Timmins Kinettes, Timmins and District Hospital, and Shoppers Drug Mart, Hydro One, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation have also helped bring the program to Timmins through a provincial partnership to help bring the ACT High School CPR Program to communities across the province.

“This community support is a tremendous boost to ACT’s efforts in Ontario, as we endeavor to bring our CPR program to all Ontario high schools.” said ACT Foundation Executive Director Sandra Clarke. “This lifesaving program is simply not possible without this kind of funding support for training mannequins needed by schools.”
About the ACT Foundation
The ACT Foundation is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to establishing CPR as a mandatory program in every Canadian high school. ACT raises funds for CPR mannequins for schools and guides schools in program set-up. The foundation has already established the CPR program in over 700 high schools across Canada. By the end of the 2004-2005 school year, over 700,000 Canadian students will have been trained to date through this program.

The ACT Foundation’s corporate health partners are companies in the research-based pharmaceutical industry: AstraZeneca, Pfizer Canada and sanofi-aventis. They provide ACT’s sustaining funding and are committed to the foundation’s national goal of empowering youth to save lives. For more information visit: www.actfoundation.ca.