Community champion teaches from the heart

Rose Booker has cared about heart health, wellness and safety for as long as she can remember, and for good reason.

“Heart disease runs in my family,” she says.

After earning her kinesiology degree at McMaster’s University, Rose worked at a clinical program for heart attack survivors, where she was trained in CPR, and was ready to intervene in an emergency.

“I’ve always had an interest,” she says. Thus, it is no surprise that during Rose’s 36-year career as a Physical and Health Education teacher and department chair at Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School in Ajax, she led the charge in ensuring that teachers and students were trained in emergency preparedness response, safety and CPR training.

In fact, before the ACT program was launched at Notre Dame in 2002, Rose was already inviting the local firefighters to come to the school and deliver CPR training. “When the board brought in the ACT training, we were super excited,” she says.

Rose enthusiastically adopted the ACT model beginning with CPR, and then integrating Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training when ACT added it to the program.

She would begin the student training with how the heart works, risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and prevention. What her students liked most, she says, was the hands-on, practical exercise. “There’s a buzz in the air when we go on the mannequins.”

Then, several years into her career, it became clear to her that opioids-associated emergencies were a growing threat to the lives of Canadians.

Rose would again pioneer emergency preparedness, safety and intervention training at her school.

Bringing nasal naloxone kits into the school, Rose ensured that teachers and staff knew how to use them. When the ACT Foundation added Opioid Overdose Response Training to the CPR and AED program, it was an essential and seamless addition to the health curriculum for her ... and for her students.

She says many students would normally rather be in the gym than sit through a health class, “but when we did the opioid training, you could hear a pin drop.” The students also wanted to know where they could pick up free naloxone kits for themselves.

Rose knows that her influence went far beyond the classroom. When the students learned how to save a life, they could share their skills with their family and community. And although she has never had to resuscitate somebody, she is convinced that everybody should know how to do it.

“My father had a quadruple bypass. I said to mom, ‘You’ve got to get trained in CPR.’”