The Latest Mikey Network News

Two saved with MIKEY AEDs at the Ride To Conquer Cancer

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medtronic MIKEY AED and case
The Ride To Conquer Cancer is a two day bike ride fundraiser that covers more than 200km through Southern Ontario. During the ride in June, 2016, two participants suffered cardiac arrest and were very fortunate there was a MIKEY AED available when they needed it most. The two rescues were on the same day, only 20 minutes apart! These were the 38th and 39th lives that we know of, saved by a MIKEY we have placed.

Safety it is the Ride to Conquer Cancer’s first priority and the Canadian Ski Patrol Central Zone Ontario is part of the large medical assistance team at the Ride each year. The first rescue occurred in late afternoon when two members of the CSP, Jason Dutchburn, who carries a MIKEY AED on his motorcycle, and Blair Wallhouse, rolled up on the incident by total chance.

They came across a male in his mid 50’s, lying in the middle of the road, VSA (vital signs absent). CPR was started immediately and with the help of the MIKE AED, and nearby Volunteer Fire and Niagara EMS, the patient was revived prior to departure in the ambulance, at approximately 4:00pm.

At approximately 4:20 p.m., a cyclist heard an ‘ugh’ and the clatter of a bike behind her. She turned and saw that a gentleman later identified as Leo McDonald, had fallen off his bicycle and was lying unconscious on the ground. She immediately went to the man’s side and yelled at a nearby police constable, who quickly came to her aid and began chest compressions while the witness began artificial respirations.

The CSP’s Ana Mera and Colin Storey were patrolling the area on their bicycles, and came upon the scene. They pulled out their first aid kits and offered assistance to the constable. CPR continued and Ana contacted Dutchburn, knowing he carries a MIKEY on his motorcycle, but not knowing he just used it. The route’s medical car was also dispatched to the scene.

Soon the medical car, an ambulance crew, more constables, and an additional two teams of medical motorcycles consisting of Corbee Dutchburn and Blair Wallhouse-who just rescued the rider 20 minutes prior, and Dave Shelley and Steve MacCallum, made their way via police escort to the incident.

CPR continued while the other CSP patrollers tasked themselves with cutting the clothing and preparing the patient for the AED’s arrival. The AED arrived and delivered one shock, and no more shocks were advised. Leo was transported by ambulance to the Niagara General Hospital.

Several days after the incident, a Central Zone patroller who works with the patient’s brother, reported that Leo did fully recover.

If not for the actions of the witness, police constable, and the Canadian Ski Patrollers who performed CPR keeping Leo alive before the AED and ambulance arrived, Leo would not have survived.

If not for patrollers Dutchburn and Wallhouse, the male patient who was revived 20 minutes prior may not have had a second chance at life either.

These were the 38th and 39th lives that we know of, saved by a MIKEY we have placed. Defibrillators save lives, and we will continue our mission to place as many of them as we can, out in the world.

Nutritional Resources

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Throughout March we have been working with Registered Dietitian, Marsha Rosen, to share heart-healthy dietary tips. This is a part of our effort to provide Canadians with resources that they can use to take better steps towards their nutritional health and to maintain a heart-healthy lifestyle.

To finish off Nutrition Month, we’d like to share some of the resources that we used for our dietary recommendations, which you can use to further your nutritional health for not only March but the rest of the year.

Nutritional Resources

Health Canada

If you’re looking for some tips and guides on what experts from dietitians in Canada are recommending, look no further than Health Canada’s website. They have a food and nutrition section that helps to guide you with developing healthy choices (with the Canada food guide), but also how you should judge food (with sections talking about food labelling and safety).

In addition to guiding you with an overall understanding of food, they also have recommendations on nutritional and healthy eating habits to incorporate into your diet.

Dietitians of Canada

If you’re looking to improve your diet and feel as though you’ll need some additional help, the Dietitians of Canada is a great resource. The site has options to help connect you with a dietitian or to attend one of their regularly scheduled meetups to talk about nutritional health. They also offer ways to assess your current diet (by tracking what you eat, or your BMI) as well as recipes and ways that you can help enhance your meal.

Eat Right Ontario

Eat Right Ontario provides similar information to the Dietitians of Canada web page, but we found that they had much more resources that specialized in educating Canadians on heart health. Their heart-healthy section is composed of a plethora of study based articles and recipes that you can use for a heart-healthy diet.

In addition to those resources, they offer articles and recipes for almost any other need, including recipes for Canadians who have diabetes; to recipes for children and seniors.

Marsha Rosen and The Mikey Network

Marsha has been a wonderful resource to The Mikey Network over the years with her advice and the great heart-healthy recipes that she has provided. Marsha provides group lectures, seminars and cooking demonstrations, and is a sought-after contributor to health-related publications.

If you have a nutrition question for our dietician, you can email Marsha here...

View all of the recipes that Marsha has helped to create for us here.  

If you have a nutritional resource that you would like to share, please message us on Facebook or Twitter.

 

 

Dietary Approaches to Help Control Hypertension

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One of the most common reasons for hypertension and the risk of heart disease among Canadians is due to a person’s diet. Simply, many of us are consuming far too much salt, fat and sugar that can affect our health, quality of life and overall longevity.

To combat this, researchers and heart-related organizations have developed a dietary plan called, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or what is known as the DASH diet. The diet consists of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and a lower level of salt.  Dietitians of Canada states that DASH can even be as effective as some medications in helping keep blood pressure levels in a normal range.

Why is a healthy blood pressure important?

High blood pressure and carrying excess weight on your body, causes the heart to work harder to pump nutrient- and oxygen-rich blood to the body. The arteries that deliver the blood become scarred and less elastic. Although these changes happen to everyone as they age, they happen more quickly in people with high blood pressure. As the arteries stiffen, the heart has to work even harder, causing the heart muscle to become thicker, weaker and less able to pump blood. When high blood pressure damages arteries, they are not able to deliver enough blood to organs for their proper functioning.

DASH

To help walk us through this diet, we’ve asked our Registered Dietitian, Marsha Rosen, to explain its components and what a normal day would be like on the DASH diet.

The DASH diet emphasizes making meal and snack choices from the following Food Groups:

  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Grains
  • Low Fat or No-Fat Dairy Foods
  • Lean meats, poultry and fish
  • Nuts, seeds and dry  legumes
  • Fats and oils

The DASH Eating Plan outlines what you would eat normally if you followed a 2000 calorie a day diet.

 

 

Food Group Number of
daily servings		 Example of serving size
Grains 6-8 1 slice whole grain bread

½ cup cooked brown rice or whole wheat pasta

*Choose whole grains like oats, millet, barley, bulgur and quinoa most often*
Vegetables 4-5 ½ cup any raw or cooked vegetable

1 cup raw leafy vegetable

½ cup low sodium or reduced sodium vegetable and tomato juice
Fruit 4-5 1 medium fruit
¼ cup dried fruit½ cup fresh, frozen or canned fruit or juice
Low-fat milk products 2-3 1 cup skim or 1% milk

1 cup low-fat yogurt (2% milk fat or less)

1.5 oz low-fat cheese (19% milk fat or less)
Lean meat, poultry and fish 6 or less 1 oz cooked lean meat, skinless poultry or fish
1 egg
Nuts, seeds and legumes 4-5 times per week 1/3 cup unsalted nuts (almonds, walnuts)

2 Tbsp peanut butter

2 Tbsp seeds (sunflower, pumpkin)

½ cup cooked legumes (kidney beans, chickpeas)
Fats and oils 2-3 1 tsp non-hydrogenated, unsalted margarine

1 tsp oil (olive, canola, etc.)

1 Tbsp low-fat mayonnaise or salad dressing
Sweets and added sugars 5 or less per week 1 tbsp sugar, jelly or jam

½ cup sorbet

Minerals

In addition to focusing on these key food areas, the DASH eating plan encourages you to eat foods that are high in potassium, calcium and magnesium.

Potassium – Good sources of potassium include tomatoes, bananas, oranges, potatoes, nuts, lentils, beans, milk and fish.

Magnesium – Good sources of magnesium include spinach, whole grain cereals, nuts, seeds, fish, beans, soy and lentils.

Calcium – High amounts are found in milk, yoghurt, canned fish with bones mashed in, leafy green vegetables, beans and tofu (manufactured using calcium salts).

And finally – all of this is a wonderful beginning to lifelong healthy eating habits – the one other key step is to introduce some regular exercise that is personally enjoyable and done regularly. Get some professional help if you need it to start you on an appropriate program.

 

Philips Recall Notice: Important information for anyone who relies on a Philips AED

The Mikey Network has been notified by Philips Canada of an AED recall by Philips. Please download and read the Philips recall notice below to determine if your defibrillator has been affected.

If you’ve received an AED from The Mikey Network that is affected by this recall, we will be in contact with you as soon as we get the final details from Philips.

Important: If your AED emits a series of 3 chirps, this could mean that a potentially serious problem was detected during self‐test that could prevent your AED from delivering therapy in an emergency. Please call Philips immediately for technical support at: l 1‐877‐744‐5633.

To determine if your unit is included in the recall, you will need the serial number, which you will find on the back of the unit.

phillips AED serial number

Download Philips recall notice here.

Heart Healthy Portion Sizes: Protein

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If you’re like many Canadians, almost every meal that you have throughout your day has some form of protein. We as Canadians believe this to be a part of a normal diet, but in fact, most of us are getting far more protein than what we actually need (American Heart Association).

The belief that protein is essential at every meal, still resonates with many families, stemming from the great depression, when protein was unaffordable and wasn’t easy to come by. Today, it is much more affordable to buy meat, but we have still held onto that idea, which so many of us have characterized as a normalcy to our diet.

Why is it harmful to have too much protein?

Protein is an important part of any Canadians diet, but often the problem that many Canadians face is that the extra protein that we’re consuming comes from meats high in saturated fats, which can elevate cholesterol levels. The amount of meat that we consume also tends to be much more than what we should have on a daily basis, which tends to make us feel more full and usually prevents us from consuming other food groups like fruits and vegetables.

How much protein do you actually need?

The amount of protein that you should consume during a day depends on your age and weight, but the Dieticians of Canada recommend that if you’re eating meat for your protein, that you choose small portions of lean, well-trimmed cuts of meat. A small portion is about the size of a deck of cards (75 grams or 2 ½ oz).

Choosing the right kind and the amount of protein:

  • When choosing a protein, opt for low-fat options, such as lean meats, skim milk or other foods with high levels of protein. Legumes, for example, can pack about 16 grams of protein per cup and are a low-fat and inexpensive alternative to meat.
  • Choose main dishes that combine meat and vegetables together, such as low-fat soups, or a stir-fry that emphasizes veggies.
  • Watch portion size. Aim for 2- to 3-ounce servings.
  • If you’re eating a snack, look for healthier alternatives. Opt for a plate of raw veggies rather than items like cheese. Cheese has protein too, but it also has fats.
  • Fish and other seafood: Opt for fish that provides omega-3 fatty acids. 2-3 servings per week.
  • Nuts, seeds, beans and legumes: 5 servings per week. Example: Tbsp of peanut butter, or 2 Tbsp of nuts or seeds.
  • Poultry, meat and eggs: Lean and extra-lean; skin and visible fat removed. 8-9 servings per week. Example: 3 oz cooked meat or poultry.