HALIFAX: Emergency Health Services (EHS) and the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia have teamed up to let the public know about Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).
Because a cardiac arrest happens on average every 15 minutes in Canada – to anyone, anywhere, at any age, without warning – EHS and the foundation believe AEDs should become as common as fire extinguishers in workplaces across the province, a joint press release from the groups noted.
With cardiac arrest, every second counts, the press release stated, noting that using an AED in combination with high quality, hands only CPR could make the difference between life and death.
Mike Janczyszyn, Advanced Care Paramedic and AED Registry Program Coordinator, told The Reporter the province-wide blitz is about promotion, awareness, and education. He said there is an AED Advisory Committee with representation from all parts of the province that includes local paramedic Kim Samson.
“This program is a boost to the awareness campaign. We feel that this is the right time to boost up the registrations,” he noted. “During the pandemic, some organizations haven’t been open as much, or if at all. As people prepare to open up, we want the awareness piece there. Not only do we want people to check on their AEDs when they come back but also register them, if they’re not already registered.”
The press release states that they hope Nova Scotians and groups will register and reach out so they can explain why having an AED is important and how easy it is to use.
“Obviously, we recommend training because it gives people the muscle memory of going through how you open one up. They’re very easy to use, you turn them on, they tell you what to do,” he said. “If you have no training whatsoever, you can still use an AED. There’s always diagrams on the pads of where things have to be placed on the body. It tells you what to do. And we’re very lucky in Nova Scotia to have our medical communications centre and our communications officer. They’ll tell you what to do when you call 911. So they’ll go through CPR with out, and if there’s an AED nearby, and go through that process as well.”
In addition to those who’ve suffered long-term respiratory and cardiovascular complications due to COVID-19, Janczyszyn said the global pandemic has presented other challenges.
“It’s not lost on us that potentially people have been more sedentary actually during COVID; staying home and not doing as much outside,” he noted.
According to EHS and Heart & Stroke, everyone has a role to play, such as bystanders who can act fast and save a life when they see someone suddenly collapse and go into cardiac arrest. The groups said they will be able to do CPR and use an AED to give that unconscious person the best chance of survival.
Emergency Health Services and Heart & Stroke noted that it’s free to register AEDS, and those who register their device by April 30, will be eligible to win a prize.
During the promotional blitz for the next two months, the groups ask that the public help spread the word by posting pictures on social media of their AEDs and encouraging others to register theirs. They are asked to point out that if someone is in cardiac arrest, their chance of survival doubles when a bystander performs CPR and uses an AED.
“They do save lives, essentially they give a shock to the heart,” said Janczyszyn. “Essentially, the goal is to shock the heart so that it stops, then starts back up again into a normal rhythm. The benefit of this is when people go into sudden cardiac arrest, they generally have these rhythms earlier on. Time is definitely of the essence when you want to get AEDs on.”
Janczyszyn added there are outdoor AEDs in Sydney, Halifax, Berwick, and Lunenburg, with plans to add them in more public areas where people are active.
“As part of an internal volunteer recognition program, we do place AEDs throughout the province as donations. With that, we’d like to know where more AEDs are so that we can pinpoint areas of need,” he noted. “We really concentrate on putting AEDs in really accessible locations. So we’ve actually placed some outdoor, heated AED cabinets with AEDs installed. There’s four throughout the province right now and we’re looking at expanding that.”
For more information on the program, the public is asked to visit: www.savelivesns.ca.