Defibrillators in public places can save lives

[attach]3618[/attach]There has been a renewed discussion recently about the importance of heart defibrillators, and the need to have them available in all public places, including schools, in order to save as many lives as possible.

Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are life saving devices that allow non-medical personnel like you and me to restore heart rhythm and most importantly, life to an individual who has experienced cardiac arrest.

AEDs are machines that can deliver an electric shock to an individual’s heart after monitoring an individual’s heart rhythms. If the machine detects the heart has stopped beating, it will deliver a shock in an attempt to restart the heart.

In May of 2001, nearly 10 years ago, I introduced a private members bill, the Portable Heart Defibrillator Act of 2001. If passed, the act would have helped save the lives of Ontarians who suffer from cardiac arrest by promoting the widespread availability and use of portable heart defibrillators in public places. If passed at the time, Bill 51 would have required that portable heart defibrillators be made available and installed in significant public buildings, including privately owned buildings such as shopping centres, arenas and stadiums that have significant public access within three years of the bill being enacted. Sadly, Bill 51 did not pass, as the Mike Harris Government of the time voted against it. The financial cost of making heart defibrillators available to the public was a cost the government of the time was not ready to bear.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, when someone goes into cardiac arrest, the first few minutes are critical. The use of an AED and heart defibrillation will improve someone’s survival rate by up to 30 percent if it is used within the first few minutes.

I don’t know about you, but a 30 percent improvement in survival rate after having cardiac arrest is a significant number I think we cannot ignore or place a price tag on.

Every year, 40,000 Canadians experience some form of cardiac arrest. That adds up to one person having a cardiac arrest every 12 minutes, each and every day.

My colleague, Ted McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, recently introduced Bill 41, Defibrillator Access Act, 2010, which, if passed, would require AEDs be installed in all public spaces, including hockey arenas, schools, and fitness facilities. It has passed second reading and has been referred to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy.

To show your support for this Bill, please contact your local MPP or contact my office using the contact information below.

By making AEDs easily accessible to residents across Toronto, we can and will help save lives. Having them available in schools and in public places where our children, our parents and our friends spend most of their days, is something I have advocated for and will continue to fight for until it becomes a reality. For more information on Bill 51 and AEDs, please do not hesitate to contact me at 416-781-2395, or at [email]mcolle.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org[/email].