All High Risk Buildings in Kawartha Lakes Now Have an AED / PAD

Our friends at Kawartha Lakes EMS  have announced that all high risk public buildings in the City of Kawartha Lakes are now equipped with public access defibrillators (PADs). There are now 180 PADs, also known as Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs), which we call MIKEYs because it’s easier to say :).

The AEDs are  located throughout the municipality and 50 of these sites are City owned buildings.

In a press release, the City of Kawartha Lakes said the following:

November 13, 2012    For Immediate Release 

All high risk buildings now have a PAD

Kawartha Lakes EMS has announced that all high risk public buildings now have a public access defibrillators (PADs) located in them. There are 180 PADs located in the municipality with 50 of these sites located within City owned buildings.

The definition of high risk for a building or community event can be defined by three key points:

1. EMS data that supports past significant 911 medical calls
2. 200 citizens in a building or event per day with an average age of 50 years
3. Barriers that slow down emergency service response (distance, locked doors, multiple floors etc.).

Community partners are the reason for the local PAD success and Kawartha Lakes EMS would like to thank and acknowledge:

• City of Kawartha Lakes Mayor Ric McGee and council as well as all the city directors and managers for embracing the program and enabling PAD placement and continued CPR training for staff
• CKL Fire / Rescue, Kawartha Lakes Police Service and Kawartha Lakes OPP for PAD placement in offices and emergency vehicles as well as continued CPR training for staff
• Ross Memorial Hospital for providing in-hospital defibrillation programs and continued CPR training for staff
• Central Ambulance Communications Center for logging active PAD sites into their database and providing dispatcher assisted CPR to citizens over the phone
• Heart and Stroke Foundation (local, provincial and national) for direction and grant funding
• The Mikey Network for providing affordable PADs either through assistance and in some cases grants
• St. John Ambulance (local chapter) for providing local PAD /CPR response at special events and CPR training for citizens
• Red Cross (local chapter) who provides CPR training for citizens
• Private site partners especially the Kawartha Lakes Schools. All schools in the City of Kawartha Lakes will have a PAD by the end of this month. Trillium Lakelands District Schools, Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District Schools, and Heritage Christian School all are continuing CPR training for staff and some now have programs for the students as well

A special thank you goes to Allan Chapman (Lindsay Tim Horton stores owner) for continuing to fund and sponsor the Heart Hero Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) program for 500 grade 5 and 6 students each year. This program is directly attributed to teaching lifesaving skills to our youth who in turn teach ten adults in the skill of hands only CPR. The result is 5,000 citizens’ receiving CPR information and skills annually.

The second group that must be acknowledged is the Kawartha Lakes Real Estate Association for continuing to fundraise through an annual ball tournament that in 2012 raised enough funds to purchase four PADs for Kawartha Lakes OPP vehicles.

For further information, please contact:
Keith Kirkpatrick
EMS Chief
705-324-5731 ext. 593
kkirkpatrick@city.kawarthalakes.on.ca