Oliver Elementary School (OES) is now equipped with a life-saving defibrillator thanks to the BC PAD program, a joint initiative implemented by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) that provides free public access defibrillators (PAD)  to communities across the province.

Local paramedics provided training to teachers and school leadership on how to recognize the signs of a sudden cardiac arrest; call 9-1-1; begin CPR and use a defibrillator.

Fingers crossed it won’t actually be need, but just in case, this newly placed public defibrillator is located in the front lobby of the school for use anytime the school is open.

In 2015, BCEHS paramedics responded to 3,565 sudden cardiac arrests throughout the province. Without immediate help, a sudden cardiac arrest victim will suffer brain damage within three minutes. After 12 minutes, survival is unlikely. Evidence shows that when CPR and AEDs are used together in the first few minutes during a sudden cardiac arrest, survival rates can be doubled.

All public defibrillators can be registered in the BC AED Registry, a free service that is integrated into the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system used by BCEHS dispatchers to direct emergency medical services throughout the province. Using the BC AED Registry, dispatchers locate all registered AEDs within a 300 metre radius of an incident and provide instructions on how to use the AED to care for the patient until paramedics arrive.

For more information on the BC PAD Program, please visit the website: https://www.bcpadprogram.ca/.

Submitted by Joy Peterson, BCEHS Unit Chief, Oliver ambulance station.