Every 13 minutes, someone across Canada suffers from a cardiac arrest.
With early CPR and AED use, their chances of survival increases by up to 50 per cent.
Every year 40,000 Canadians die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) is committed to improving cardiac arrest survival rates by teaching essential life-saving skills of hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use in communities across B.C.
This weekend join our Community Paramedic Mikael Kjellström in Barriere for FREE 30-minute lessons on Friday, June 1, at the North Thompson Fall Fair facility in Barriere, by the Outdoor Entertainment Stage directly east of the Agriplex. The sessions will run all day to accommodate everyone’s time frame. Sessions will be held at 10: a.m., 11 a.m., 12 noon, 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4. p.m. Drop-ins are welcome.
Paramedic Mikael Kjellström says he is excited to be able to teach this life-saving skill to community members who may one day be able to safe a life with their knowledge. “Myself and Unit Chief Don Piper will be at the fairgrounds by the Outdoor Stage with CPR mannequins and training AED’s and will teach these life-saving skills to the public. We will be holding 30 minute sessions at 10, 11, 12, 1pm, 3 pm and 4pm. I encourage everyone to come and learn.”
After receiving training, participants can then 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 meters of your location anywhere in B.C. 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 emergency responders arrive.
This free program is supported by BCEHS, St. John’s Ambulance, and The Heart and Stroke Foundation.
What is the Community Paramedicine Program?
• It offers residents in rural communities enhanced health care services from paramedics. The program broadens the traditional focus of paramedics to include disease prevention, health promotion and basic health-care services.
• It’s a community-based model meant for non-urgent settings, in patients’ homes or in the community, in partnership with local health care providers.
• Community paramedics help improve access to health care in rural and remote communities by providing services to primarily older adults living with chronic conditions. These services, identified by referring health professionals, are intended to help patients live safely in their homes and avoid extra trips to the hospital.
• And it offers rural communities a stabilized paramedic presence for emergency response. Community paramedics have the ability to augment additional shifts in emergency response capabilities. And, if there is a significant incident in the community and the community paramedic is the nearest responder they will be contacted by dispatch – and respond if it is determined it’s safe to leave the patient they are caring for.
• All community paramedics are trained and currently working for BC Emergency Health Services as emergency care paramedics. BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) is responsible for the delivery and governance of pre-hospital emergency medical care and inter-facility patient transfer services through the BC Ambulance Service and the BC Patient Transfer Network. BCEHS is supported by the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA). For more information, go to: www.bcehs.ca or follow them on Twitter @ BC_EHS
