130 Magdalen Islands students to receive lifesaving CPR and defibrillator training every year

Magdalen Islands, Quebec – With eight in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring at home or in public places, empowering youth with CPR training as part of their high school education will save lives. The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation and partners officially launched the ACT High School CPR and Defibrillator Training Program in Eastern Shores School Board and la Commission scolaire des Îles.

Through this initiative, 130 students from Eastern Shores School Board’s Grosse Ile School, and la Commission scolaire des Îles’ la Polyvalente des Îles school will graduate every year with the lifesaving CPR skills and knowledge on how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

The ACT Foundation is the charitable organization that is establishing free CPR and defibrillator training programs in secondary schools throughout Quebec and across Canada. ACT is working in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports and the Ministry of Health and Social Services, with local support from Germain Chevarie, MNA for Îles-de-la-Madeleine, as well as health partners AstraZeneca Canada, Sanofi Canada, and Amgen Canada to bring this program to the Magdalen Islands high schools.

This program was also made possible thanks to our Magdalen Islands community partners, listed in alphabetical order : À Marée Basse, Ambulance Leblanc, Autobus Les Sillons, Caisse populaire Havre-aux-Maisons, Caisse populaire des Ramées, Coopérative des Pêcheurs de Cap Dauphin, Du Coeur aux Soins, Fruits de Mer Madeleine, Gestion CTMA, IGA Coop de Fatima, IGA Coop de la Vernière, IGA Coop Havre-aux-Maisons, Mines Seleine, Pascan Aviation.

Funding will see participating secondary schools receive training equipment to enable teachers to train students. This includes Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training units, AED training mannequins, and program set-up that will see all students graduate with the skills and knowledge to save lives.

“I am very pleased to contribute to the success and the realisation of such an important program. Magdalen Islands students are now better equipped to respond to emergency situations, and that in itself will only make them better citizens,” declares Mr. Germain Chevarie, MNA, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, National Assembly.

“The Polyvalente des Îles students who are benefiting from this training and the equipment available to them, may one day need to save a life. What a great training for them! We’d like to thank the generous partners,” say Brigitte Aucoin, Executive Director, Commission scolaire des Îles, and Karen Renaud, principal, École Polyvalente des Îles.

“Great initiative by the ACT Foundation! We are indebted to community partners for supporting this initiative financially. Working together, we can make a difference for our students,” says Hugh Wood, Principal, Grosse Ile School.

To date, the ACT High School CPR Program has been established in 190 Quebec high schools and more than 500 000 students have already been empowered to save lives with CPR.

“As a founding partner of the ACT Foundation and a longstanding employer of the city of Laval, we are proud to make an additional financial contribution to the Foundation, so that local high school students learn the critical skills and know-how to save lives,” says Niven Al-Khoury, General Manager, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Care, Sanofi Canada. ”For Sanofi, providing local youth with lifesaving skills is a natural fit with our long cardiovascular heritage and we stand firmly behind the organization’s lifesaving training programs that ensure students are trained and empowered to use CPR and AEDs.”

“We are thrilled with the support from our partners. With it, we can enhance the CPR program in the two Magdalen Islands high schools», says Sandra Clarke, the ACT Foundation’s Executive Director.

About the ACT Foundation

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization that is establishing the free CPR and AED program in Canadian high schools. The program is built on ACT’s award-winning community-based model of partnerships and support, whereby ACT finds local partners who donate the mannequins and AED training units that schools need to set up the program. Secondary school teachers then teach CPR and how to use a defibrillator to their students as a regular part of the curriculum, reaching all youth prior to graduation. ACT’s partners who are committed to bringing the program to Quebec are the Government of Quebec, and our national health partners, AstraZeneca Canada, Sanofi Canada, and Amgen Canada. To date, the ACT Foundation has set up the CPR Program in more than 1,755 high schools nation-wide, empowering more than 3.6 million youth to save lives.

-30-

Pour plus d’information:

Nives Scott
Communications Coordinator
ACT Foundation
comms@actfoundation.ca
Tel: 613-729-3455
Toll: 800-465-9111
www.actfoundation.ca
www.youtube.com/theactfoundation
www.facebook/theactfoundation
www.twitter.com/actfoundation