VICTORIA – Here’s your chance to learn simple techniques that could potentially save someone’s life through hands-only CPR and with the assistance of automatic external defibrillator (AED).
The Vancouver Island Teachers of Advanced cardiac Life support (VITAL), in collaboration with Island Health, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and supported by BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) will hold a free community training event on Friday April 20 at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Island Health emergency physician, and VITAL co-founder, Dr. Tina Webber along other physicians and trained medical experts will demonstrate hands-only CPR and will teach participants to use an AED.
Cardiac survivors will also share their stories about the importance of quick support when sudden cardiac arrest occurs. In B.C., the bystander CPR rate is 25 percent. By training more people to know what to do when sudden cardiac arrest occurs, this rate can be improved.
Join us for a fun afternoon to learn how to perform this life saving skill.
What: Free AED and CPR training!
Where: Begbie Hall, Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria
Good weather: Parking lot beside Begbie
Bad weather: Woodward Room inside Begbie
When: Friday April 20, three sessions available:
• 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
• 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
• 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Register: online at tinyurl.com/CHAMPS-RJH to guarantee a spot or show up in-person. There is space for 100 participants per hour.
After receiving training, participants can download a new BCEHS app called PulsePoint. PulsePoint Respond App alerts you if there is a possible victim of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest within 400 metres of your location anywhere in BC. If there is a public access defibrillator nearby, the app will tell you where it is. Once you receive the alert and find the patient, you can perform hands-only CPR, and use the AED if available, until professional responders arrive.
Island Health, one of seven health jurisdictions in British Columbia, provides health care and support services to more than 765,000 people on Vancouver Island, the islands in the Salish Sea and the Johnstone Strait, and mainland communities north of Powell River.
With more than 20,000 staff, 1,900 physician partners, 6,000 volunteers, and the dedicated support of foundations and auxiliaries, Island Health delivers a broad range of health services, including: public health services, primary health care, home and community care, mental health and addictions services, acute care in hospitals, and much more across a huge, geographically diverse region.
Media inquiries:
Meribeth Burton
250-519-1815
Meribeth.burton@islandhealth.ca