The Quebec government says it will spend more than $3 million to provide all public school with an automated external defibrillator (AED) if they don’t already have one.
According to the CAQ, this means 1,558 defibrillators will be purchased and installed to ensure that every primary school, secondary school, and training centre is equipped.
“These devices can save lives,” said Education Minister Bernard Drainville in a press release. “Since the safety of students and staff in our schools is a priority, it is important to equip all our public schools with defibrillators.”
The government has not provided a specific timeline for the deployment of the defibrillators, but it wants the devices to be installed “rapidly over the coming months.”
According to the most recent data, 93 per cent of high schools already have at least one defibrillator, but this drops to 51 per cent for elementary schools and 70 per cent for vocational training centres and general adult education centres. Their plan is to increase the rate to 100 per cent.
This measure follows the long-standing campaign of Dr. Paul Poirier, a cardiologist and professor at the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, who has been campaigning for several years to have all schools equipped with a defibrillator.
AEDs are small portable devices that can analyze a person’s heart rhythm in distress to trigger an electrical shock to correct any abnormal electrical activity in the heart.
It analyzes the heart’s rhythm and advises whether a person needs to trigger a shock, so the user doesn’t need to make the decision himself.
“If a rhythm that can be corrected by electric shock is not detected, the device advises against shock and instead recommends that the healthcare provider begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while waiting for emergency medical services to arrive,” explains the Heart and Stroke Foundation in a fact sheet. “When an AED and CPR are used immediately, the chances of survival for the person experiencing sudden cardiac arrest are significantly improved.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews