Saskatoon AED scare shines light on P.A. accessibility

According to Lyle Karasiuk with Parkland Ambulance, they installed another one at a business just Monday.

“Thankfully for the program initiated by the federal government and supported by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, we’ve been fortunate to place almost 35 additional AEDs right here in the city and there’s more of them coming soon,” he said.

Starting April 1 it will be the final year of a three-year commitment from the federal government to grant money to rinks and clubs for AEDs and training.

Karasiuk said in the final year the program will expand to other facilities and complexes.

“An AED is the most essential piece of equipment in terms of a sudden cardiac arrest,” Karasiuk said.

When a person goes into cardiac arrest, Karasiuk said it’s important people recognize an emergency exists, get the victim on a hard flat service face up and starting pushing down on their chest performing CPR. From there, the steps include calling 911 and sending someone to get an AED.

“When someone calls into our dispatch centre we can recognize which location they are at. We can tell them where the AED is, if in fact, the facility has one,” he said, adding most facilities should have an AED sticker on the front door.

“We can probably give them directions, in fact, literally step-by-step direction of how to get to that device if they haven’t noticed it.”

To find out where AEDs exist in the PAPHR, click here .

For more on how to get an AED, click here.

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84

by Sarah Stone

Saskatoon AED scare shines light on P.A. accessibility

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