Date:August 15, 2013​

For many residents, the community hall is the heart of Zeballos. Today, the Zeballos Community Hall has received a special addition that may save a life of a loved one or a stranger.

An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) was donated by the Heart & Stroke Foundation to the Zeballos Community Hall as part of the BC Public Access to Defibrillation (PAD) Program. The BC PAD Program is a partnership between the Heart & Stroke Foundation and the provincial government. The initiative supports the installation of 450 AEDs in public venues, such as community centres, arenas, recreation centres, playing fields and parks, throughout B.C. over the next two years.

The Heart & Stroke Foundation and BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) have partnered to implement the BC PAD Program; BCAS paramedics provide on-site orientation and on-going program oversight for the BC PAD AED. BCAS has also linked the AED Registry with the ambulance dispatch system. This registry will enable a bystander who calls 9-1-1 to be directed by a BCAS dispatcher to the nearest AED. BCAS dispatchers can also assist bystanders to apply an AED during a medical emergency.

“Each year, more than 2,000 British Columbians die from sudden cardiac arrest,” Health Minister Terry Lake. “These people are someone’s father, mother, husband, wife, son or daughter, friend or loved one. By increasing public access to defibrillators, we can help to save many of those lives.”

The Zeballos Community Hall has received the donated BC PAD AED and venue volunteers participated in an overview about the device, led by local BCAS Unit Chief and PAD Program Champion Pat Rusch, and learned the chain of survival – Call 9-1-1, Do CPR and Use an AED. Volunteers can now recognize and respond to sudden cardiac arrest.

“As a paramedic, I see first-hand the tragic effects of cardiac arrest on the patient as well as the bystanders, which are often friends and family,” said BCAS Unit Chief and PAD Program Champion Pat Rusch. “I am proud to provide CPR/AED orientation in Zeballos and increase the number of people who can provide valuable, life-saving assistance during a medical emergency.”

“We’re placing AEDs where there is the greatest chance they’ll save a life,” said Deborah Rusch, PAD Program Manager, Heart & Stroke Foundation. “Through this program, we will donate hundreds of AEDs to public places across the province, such as the Zeballos Community Hall, and give bystanders the tools to help someone suffering a sudden cardiac arrest.”

Sudden cardiac arrest strikes suddenly and affects people of all ages. BCAS attends between 2,400-2,800 cardiac arrest calls each year. Fewer than 12 per cent of people who have a cardiac arrest survive. Without immediate help, someone in sudden cardiac arrest will suffer brain damage within three minutes, and after 12 minutes, it’s unlikely they’ll survive.

Evidence shows the CPR coupled with defibrillation, or an electrical shock to the heart, increases the survival rate for sudden cardiac arrests which occur in public settings. An AED is a safe, portable device anyone can use to deliver an electric shock to restart a heart in sudden cardiac arrest. The AED reads the heart rhythm and only delivers a shock if needed.

For more information the PAD Program,visit: www.BCPADProgram.ca. To learn more about AEDs and sudden cardiac arrest, please visit: www.aedinyourhands.ca

For more information News Release: Zeballos Community Hall Ready to Help Save a Life