An automated external defibrillator, or AED for short, is more than just a medical device hanging on the wall in a local building.
It has the power to save lives, especially for those who experience an unexpected cardiac arrest, or a related incident, which is why a lot of sports and recreational centres request to have one installed.
This morning (Nov. 15), Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond donated a new AED to the Gymnastics Club, thanks to her big bike team’s fundraising efforts for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, earning $13,786 to bring the machine.
For parents like Melanie Hanson, who experienced a cardiac arrest herself while training for a marathon, it brings excitement and relief in a number of ways.
“I’m protected; I received my own implanted defibrillator, so if I go back, I’ll be shocked by the machine that’s in my chest,” she said to PrinceGeorgeMatters.
“My kids don’t have that protection and a lot of athletes don’t. We hear it all the time with a runner in a race or a hockey player falling on the ice, you know, and it’s because they may have an underlying condition that they’re not aware of, they end of having a cardiac arrest and without that device, the numbers are low for survival.”
.@shirleybond present a new AED for Prince George Gymnastics after her bike team raised “the largest fundraising team in the province” for a 3rd time ❤️ Close to $14,000 was accumulated & her team was on site for the cheque presentation | #CityOfPG @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/ruxWjDX6YO
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) November 15, 2019
Hanson’s daughter Kayla is a coach with the Prince George Gymnastics Club, but also has a heart defect herself passed down genetically.
With the new AED, not only does Hanson believe that this would help her, but others that visit the gym as well.
“Knowing she had this condition did worry us, we wanted access to an AED. She had one at school, we felt the community was starting to get more AEDs, but the one that was missing was here and there’s thousands of people that come through this building every year. It’s not just athletes, we have meets here where we have members from all over B.C. that come here to compete as well as their coaches, their parents and their grandparents.”
Hanson is also a Cardiac Athletes Ambassdor, part of an international organization that advocates for AEDs to be installed in every place of recreation as this piece of life-saving technology could be needed at a moment’s notice.
“Most people don’t come out unless they’re shocked by an AED or they have a cardiac arrest and die. Athletes are more prone to have cardiac arrest and while there may be nothing physically wrong with their heart generally, but it’s just an electrical circuit that the heart just stops beating. All it needs is an AED to shock it back to life.”
Bond has also continuously put forward a private member’s bill in the B.C. Legislature, yet to be called by the provincial government, to make AEDs more accessible to the public and are properly maintained.
“What I love is the physical location of this building,” said Bond, noting that one in 10 people survive cardiac arrests that happen at home or in public places.
“When the AED is put in place and registered, people all in this quadrant will have access to be able to use that AED should it be necessary. It has a much bigger scope than just the PG Gymnastics Club, although that’s an important part of it, it’s in a very important gathering space in our city.”
Once installed, the AED will be set up on PulsePoint, an app that maps nearby devices should someone need to know which one is closest to you.
This is the third defibrillator Bond has brought to Prince George, resulting in over $60,000 raised for Heart and Stroke.
