New Westminster district joins those placing defibrillators in every school

By next week, all public schools in the New Westminster, B.C., will be equipped with automatic external defibrillators, even though installing the portable devices in schools is not required by the province's senior public health official.

"It's nice to know it's there," said Mark Gifford, chair of the NewWestminsterSchool Board.

Defibrillatorsare portable electronic devices that automaticallydiagnose life-threateningcardiacarrhythmiasand sendelectric shocks through the chest wall of a person whose heart has stopped beating.

• 'Stay on the line': 911 dispatcher helps teacher save student's life

In B.C.,there is no legislationrequiring schools to have AEDs,andthe office of the provincial health officer doesn't recommend it.

In a statement, the office saidAEDsare rarely needed in a school setting unless a student or staff member has a pre-existing condition.

Instead, it said it supports putting defibrillatorsin settings where sudden cardiac arrest is more likely, such as recreation centres.

'People's lives have been saved'

ButDr. Sanjiv Gandhi, head of cardiac surgery at B.C. Children's Hospital, thinks all schools should carry them.

"It's totally bogus to say they don't help," he said."There is mounds of evidence. People's lives have been saved by AEDs. I've seen it over."

Gandhi advocated to get them into the West Vancouver school districtwhile his children were attending school there.

The New Westminster school board invested $35,000 to install 20AEDsin schools and office buildings after a group of parents brought the issue to itsattention last April.

"Our schools are more than justclass environments.They're hubs for community activity," said Gifford.

Other school districts like Coquitlam, Powell River, andComoxValleyto name just a fewhave also decided to install the devices inevery school. However, larger school districts like Vancouver and Surrey have not.

Does your school have one?

CBC News contacted every school district in B.C. to find out which public elementary and secondary schools haveAEDsinstalled.

Check the table below to see if your child's school has an AED:

NOTE: The list is based on answers provided by school districts. If the district did not provide an answer, the field is left blank.Some school districts haveAEDsthat are for specific children.In most cases, districts didn't reveal that information due to privacy. You should check with your school directly to ensure the above information is up to date.

Don't see your school there? Or spot an error? Email tina.lovgreen@cbc.ca

Don't be afraid to dial 911

AEDsare just one of thetools available for the public to use in an unexpected loss of heart function in a person.

B.C. Ambulance dispatcher Colin Terry,who talked a Vancouver elementary school teacher through the CPR thatsaved a student's life,said there should be no reason for the public to be fearful or reluctant to call 911 in case of sudden cardiac arrest.

"We don't ask anyone to do anything that is dangerous," he said."Our instructions are simple. Children can follow them. We will do the thinking, as long as you can communicate clearly," he said.

He said the keyto survival in a sudden cardiac arrest isearly recognition, early CPR and early defibrillation.

Without immediate help, brain damage startswithin threeminutes of cardiac arrest.

PulsePointapp

A newsmartphone app calledPulsePointwill alert users when somebody is in cardiac arrest in a public place nearby.

The app notifiespeople if someone within walking distance is a victim of sudden cardiac arrest.

The app does not keep records on who gets the alerts or responds to them, and it only reports events occurring in public places.

• New app turns bystanders into potential lifesavers

B.C.EmergencyHealth Services says people shouldn't be afraid to helpand need to know they'recovered by the Good Samaritan act. Civilians cannot be held liable for any additional harmif they do step in to help.

Emergencyservicessays thesmartphonealert could also save lives by showing users a map pinpointing the location of nearby public defibrillators.

The app also has a CPR how-to and a compression rate beat for users to follow.

B.C. is the first province in Canada to offerthe program.