Cardiac care program coming to Caledon

The Town of Caledon is seeking donations from the community to fund its public access defibrillation program (PAD) that will place life-saving Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in strategic locations throughout the community.

A donation target of $3,000 per AED installation will cover the average capital cost of the installation. Interested private or corporate donors may contact Marc Seguin, manager of recreation development at (905) 584- 2272, extension 4204 or marc.seguin@caledon.ca

Several donors have already been identified, but the Town requires a few more to make the program complete.

"Our objective is to install defibrillators in key Town recreational facilities," commented Mayor Marolyn Morrison. "Cardiac arrest can strike people of all ages and fitness levels, and we hope to make it more likely that an AED will be on scene sooner in public venues in our community."

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, approximately 7,000 cardiac arrests occur each year in Ontario alone. The odds of survival for an out-ofhospital cardiac arrest are approximately five per cent. With each passing minute, the probability of survival declines by seven-to-10 percent.

Following council's direction in December, Town staff moved forward with the defibrillation program by working closely with Caledon's Department of Fire and Emergency Services. Together they identified the "AED PLUS" defibrillator model as manufactured by Zoll. This unit was recommended because of its easy-to-use functionality which provides persons responding to a cardiac arrest situation with visual and verbal AED and CPR instructions.