Thanks to a partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, branches throughout the Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) system are participating in the BC PAD (Public Access to Defibrillation) program and are ready to support people suffering from cardiac arrest. 21 ORL branches plus its Administration Centre in Kelowna now have donated AED (Automated External Defibrillators) machines installed.

Nationally, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has been working with partners to install the life-saving devices in hundreds of publically accessible locations, including arenas, community centres, senior centres, and libraries. Several lives have been saved thanks to quick access to the defibrillators. The machines work by shocking the heart back into a normal rhythm and preventing heart failure.

“The library is a natural partner for the BC PAD program”, says Shelley Parker, Resuscitation Program Manager for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. “As a community gathering place, libraries are host to a wide range of people of all ages. Sudden cardiac arrest can strike anyone, anytime, at any place.”

AEDs have been installed at all ORL branches except Cherryville, Oyama, Silver Creek, Hedley, Lumby, Mission, Osoyoos and Revelstoke. These branches aren’t participating because a device already exists close by the location or they aren’t open often enough to be publically accessible. Staff at locations with an AED have been trained by Paramedics from BC Emergency Health Services in the use and support of the device.

For more information on the BC PAD program and how to use an AED in case of emergency, visit www.bcpadprogram.ca