The Latest Mikey Network News

CPR and AED Awareness Week

Led by organizations like the American Heart Association, and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, June 1 – 7, is CPR and AED awareness week in the United States.

Although this national awareness week is happening south of the border we decided that we’d provide resources to help prepare Canadians for an emergency or sudden cardiac arrest as well. This is incredibly important for Canadians to learn as the Government of Canada states that heart disease is the second leading cause of death in Canada.

So what can you do to help prepare for an emergency? Below are some resources that you can use to prepare yourself, no matter what emergency you find yourself in.

Resources

The Mikey Young at Heart App

The Mikey Young At Heart Program teaches students how to perform CPR or how to use an AED, which they can in turn use towards their school’s volunteer hours. The programs aim is to help students feel more confident to use an AED or administer CPR, should the need ever arise. Students will learn these life-saving skills in The Mikey Young at Heart app, which is free and available on both android and apple devices.

The Mikey Network creates awareness of this program while going to schools and talking with them about The Mikey Young at Heart app. Although we often go to schools to raise awareness about the app, anyone who is interested in learning more about obtaining life-saving skills can download it as well.

St. Johns Ambulance

The Mikey Network works closely with the St.John’s Ambulance as they’re a preferred educational resource for emergencies and first aid skills. They’re stationed all over Canada, and provide accreditations in various levels of first aid and CPR. They will also sometimes offer opportunities for small free training sessions to go over basic concepts of first aid. If you’re interested in obtaining a first aid certification, we encourage you to go to their site.

peel children safety village mikey

Municipal Governments and First Responders

Municipalities and their city’s paramedics are responding to the requests of citizens who want to learn more about how to respond to emergency situations. Many municipalities that we regularly work with have launched online initiatives and resources to educate citizens on what to do during an emergency situation.

Examples of communities that are spearheading these strategies include the municipality of Peel who have created some great resources on how to use an AED, as well as this scenario on what to do in case of a sudden cardiac arrest. Other municipalities offer courses that are taught by paramedics, including Toronto’s Paramedic Services.

Basics

If you’re looking to learn the basics, St. John’s Ambulance, has this resource.

 

 

Thank You For Making The 2018 Walk of Life a Huge Success!

The 2018 Walk of Life was on Saturday and Team Mikey was out in full force. More than 400 runners and walkers were sporting their Team Mikey gear and raising funds and awareness for The Mikey Network and The Cardiac Health Foundation.

These funds are essential for us to continue our work. Funds raised go towards the Mikey Young at Heart program and provide defibrillators to Mikey’s Kids.

So again, THANK YOU TEAM MIKEY!!

Please take a look at our photo gallery over on Facebook, and while you’re there, be sure you’ve “Liked” the Mikey Network on Facebook.

 

 

Walk of Life: Everything You Need to Know

The 2018 Walk of Life is only 5 days away and we can’t wait to see everyone!

First, if you haven’t registered yet there’s still time. Visit The Mikey Network Walk of Life fundraising site and register now.

If you have registered (Thank you!), we wanted to make sure you have all the information you need.

2018 Walk of Life Event information:

Date: Saturday, May 26, 2018

Location: Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Rd, Toronto, ON

Parking is Free for Walk of Life participants and volunteers.

This year there are lots of options for every level of athlete. Take part in a 3K or 5K Walk, 5K or 10K Run; and of course – The Kids Fun Run!

Every member of Team Mikey will receive a T-shirt, a backpack, a Mikey Network welcome gift pack, and we pay your registration fee for the event.

Event Schedule:
Registration: 8:00 am – 9:00 am
Kids Fun Run: 9:00 am – 9:25 am
Presentations and Warm-up: 9:30 am – 9:40 am
WALKERS Start (1KM, 3KM, & 5KM) : 9:45 am
RUNNERS Start ( 5KM & 10 KM): 9:55 am
Chair Exercises for Seniors: 10:00 – 11:00am

After the Walk and Run, there is a BBQ Lunch, Awards Ceremony, and Bouncy Castles & Kids Entertainment, from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm.

Route Maps

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

 

Walk of Life: Mikey Families and Organizations

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Every year the Mikey Network helps to organize a team for the Walk Of Life. The annual event which you can do as a walk or a run is a wonderful way to spend your Saturday. There are tons of fun events that you can do with your family and all of the money that is raised by the Mikey Network’s team goes towards educational programs that advocate for heart health or placements of defibrillators to families or organizations.

As we lead up to the walk, we want to let those that have supported us see where their donations have gone. This week we’re talking about The Mikey’s Kids program and our donations to various organizations.

Mikey’s Kids Program

As a parent, your child’s safety is always a top of mind concern. You want to make sure that they’re always safe and looked after. As we’ve discovered with many families that we’ve dealt with, having a child with a heart condition can certainly be unnerving as it can feel like you’re helpless to protect them.

Can there be anything more terrifying than seeing a child collapse suddenly and stop breathing? And can you imagine the frustration of feeling helpless in such an emergency?

We wanted to help with this, and to give families peace of mind so that they’re not fearful of an emergency because of their child’s heart condition.

Families whose children are at high risk of SCA are provided with a MIKEY, a portable automated external defibrillator (AED), to carry with them at all times so their kids are protected at home, school or play.

Families that are in need of a MIKEY defibrillator reach out to our organization to apply. They’re then given to families, along with a set of instructions on how to use it and maintain the AED. The defibrillators that we provide would not be possible without the donations that are raised at the Walk of Life.

Organizations

The Mikey Network understands that a sudden cardiac arrest can happen anywhere, and for this reason, we want to make sure that they’re as readily available to the public as fire alarms and fire extinguishers are.

To accomplish this, The Mikey Network works with organizations in the community that are in need of a defibrillator. Their needs will vary from helping to save lives with a MIKEY defibrillator; to housing large-scale events with many attendees, such as a sports facility.

This past weekend we provided two new MIKEY’s to the Canadian Ski Patrol’s motorcycle division, which will help them to save lives in emergency situations. This division has been very successful,  saving two lives in 2016 with their MIKEY’s. Pictured below are Marion Karol, VP of Operations for Canadian Ski Patrol, and members of their team.

if you’re an organization that is interested in applying for a MIKEY, you can apply here. 

 

How To Prepare For an Emergency

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The Canadian and provincial governments have announced that the week of May 6 to the 12th is Emergency Preparedness Week. The annual event encourages Canadians to take concrete actions to be better prepared to protect themselves and their families during emergencies.

This is so important to prepare for, as you’ll never know when an emergency will strike; as well as what kind of emergency it will be. Where do you start though? How much water will you need? Is it alright to use candles inside during a power outage? These are just a few questions that most will experience when they begin to assemble an emergency kit.

We’ve taken the liberty of highlighting some of the key pieces and items that you will need to have during an emergency of any kind.

Develop a plan

Before you begin gathering items for your kit, it’s important to create a well thought out plan in case of an emergency. We encourage you to develop plans for specific emergencies as each will vary with what is needed and how to act, but here are some key pieces that should be apart of every emergency plan.

  1. Contact information –  Whether it’s a family member, a friend, or emergency numbers; it’s important to have someone to contact in case of an emergency. We recommend having a contact list of emergency numbers, and more than one way to reach out to them. There will be times when a walkie-talkie is needed vs. using text messaging or social media.
  2. Evacuation plan – In case you are asked to evacuate your home, or even your area, select two safe locations you could go to. One should be nearby, such as a local library or community centre. The other one should be farther away, outside your neighbourhood, in case the emergency affects a large area.
  3. General Safety – Depending on the emergency you should know the procedures of how to act and address the emergency at hand. As an example, if you’re trying to perform a utility shut off procedure, every adult in your family, as well as older children, should also know how to turn off main utilities—water, electricity, gas.

Emergency Items

Water

Depending on the number of people that you will need to plan for, you will need to have at least four litres of water per person per day for drinking, food preparation, personal hygiene and dishwashing. As an example, if you have three family members, you should have at least 12 litres of water a day for a three-day emergency.

If you have a pet, the rule of thumb is to store 30 millilitres of water per kilogram of the animal’s weight per day. An average cat or small dog would require at least 1/5 of a litre (or half a cup) of water per day.

Food 

Any food that you plan on storing for an emergency should be non-perishable and easy to prepare (canned fruits, beans, dried fruits and vegetables, etc.). Depending on the emergency, you should have enough food for each person in your family for at least three days. IMPORTANT: Make sure to have essential tools on hand to make the food, like a can opener.

First Aid Kit

If you’re choosing a First Aid Kit it’s usually a good rule of thumb to find a large one with a bunch of items for various emergencies; you’ll never know what to expect.

Medication

If you or someone in your family is allergic to something or needs a medication with them at all times like asthma, you should plan to have that on hand, just in case.

Radio

Having a radio on-hand is essential if all other forms of communication have been shut down. Try to find a hand-cranked radio, so that you’re not reliant on batteries unless absolutely necessary.

We hope that you found this to be insightful for your kit. If you’re in need of more ideas or a guide to follow, check out the Government of Ontario’s emergency preparedness plan.