We’re proud to share the amazing news that the Martin family have succeeded in their goal to get AED’s placed in every public school in the Ottawa-Carleton area!
In February of 2017, while playing with friends at recess, Griffin Martin suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Staff jumped into action immediately, but unfortunately, they nor the emergency personnel who arrived afterwards could revive him.
After learning more about the incident, the family learned that there was no AED at Griffin’s school. If an AED was available during their son’s cardiac arrest, he may have stood a better chance at surviving. In fact, 78 of the 119 Ottawa public elementary schools do not currently have an AED available.
To honour Griffin’s memory the family created a campaign to raise money for the installation of AED’s in every school in the Ottawa area, including Orlean’s Wood, Griffin Martin’s elementary school.
We helped the Martins launch their AEDs for Schools – Remember Griffin campaign at the end of September and in just a few weeks the Martins have raised close to $20,000. CBC News interviewed Griffin’s parents, Andrea and Damien, and Mikey Network President Eva Naumovski, and news stories ran online, in print, and on the radio, nationwide.
All of this activity quickly got the attention of senior staff within the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. It turns out that the OCDSB already had the money for the AED’s and was planning to install them in phases over the next year. The main hurdle that the school board faced to placing them sooner was a lack of training among staff and an unclear plan for how the machines would be maintained.
They announced yesterday, that they will begin the installation of defibrillators in all of their school’s by September 2018.
The OCDSB has partnered with the Ottawa Paramedic Service, which oversees close to 1,200 defibrillators in public places across Ottawa. A spokesperson for the OPS has stated that the schools will be responsible to maintain the AED’s, but they will assist in fixing any problems should they arise.
“The Mikey Network was proud to work with the Martin family to bring awareness to their cause. We couldn’t be happier to share this amazing accomplishment to honour their late son!” Said Mikey Network President, Eva Naumovski.
Although the Martins have had the donation of AED’s from the ODSCB, they’re still working towards their donation goal. Please join us in supporting their AED’s For Schools campaign. Visit aedsforschools.com to learn more about Griffin’s story and to make a donation.
