Several teachers were taught how to use the new Automated External Defibrillators that will be installed in schools in the Nechako Lakes district on Friday, May 10.
This, in addition to the training they have already received, will enable staff to begin teaching students how to save the life of someone experiencing cardiac arrest.
The ACT Foundation and the BC Ambulance Service have organized and enabled secondary schools all over Canada to learn the techniques required that might save a person's life. British Columbia Ambulance Service paramedic and CPR instructor Laine Smith is volunteering his time to teach the workshop.
"The ACT Foundation set up CPR training in high schools back in 2010 with the support of community partners," said Sandra Clarke, executive director of the ACT Foundation. "And now we're going back to schools in Vanderhoof and around the province... at the ACT Foundation our goal is to ensure every young person graduates with the skills and knowledge to save a life."
This will see 200 students trained every year in the secondary schools in Nechako Valley, Fraser Lake, and Fort St. James. This is in addition to the 1.8 million students already trained in Canada and the 240,000 students trained in B.C. alone.
Clarke would like to thank AstraZeneca Canada, Pfizer Canada, Sanofi and RBC who have together contributed three AED units, eight AED training units, and eight AED training mannequins for the three public secondary schools.