Early bystander CPR helps save a life in CSL

The stars were clearly aligned on June 28th for a 46 year old man who went into sudden cardiac arrest at his home in Cote Saint-Luc.

Bystander CPR was started by someone on scene. The CSL EMS crew of Samantha and Adam arrived alongside two police officers from Station 9. The two police officers ran upstairs to take over compressions while the EMS crew established an airway and provided ventilations, as no shock was advised on the monitor.

Urgences-santé showed up shortly thereafter and by the time the patient was loaded into the ambulance, he had regained a spontaneous pulse and respirations.

Great teamwork between the emergency services and a focus on the patient clearly made the difference.

Thanks and congratulations to Cote Saint-Luc’s finest police officers, EMS volunteers and the ambulance technicians.  Everyone involved in this intervention performed to the best of their abilities resulting in a life saved.  You are all to be congratulated for excellent work.

 

Ready to learn in a Cote Saint-Luc CPR Heartsaver AED class?  They are offered to the public each month.  The dates of the next few CPR courses being offered are:

Monday July 9th 2012

Thursday August 9th 2012

Monday September 17th 2012

Thursday October 11th 2012

Monday November 12th 2012

Thursday December 6th 2012

Monday January 14th 2013

The Heartsaver CPR/AED classes can have up to 12 participants per class.

For more information on CPR courses please contact the Cote Saint-Luc Parks and Recreation Department at www.cotesaintluc.org or by phone at 514-485-6806.

CPR saves lives. Learn it.

Have you learned CPR?

The next CPR Heartsaver AED Course takes place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, March 12, at the Cote Saint-Luc Parks and Recreation Building, 7500 Mackle Road.

For cost and registration information, call 514-485- 6806, ext. 2231.

This is a crucial, learning experience that I believe should be mandatory for every student in Quebec.  It takes such a short period of time to be trained and this knowledge can easily be put to use to save a life.

I have personally done CPR about 125 times as a result of so many years of service with Urgences Santé and CSL Emergency Medical Services.  It was indeed frightening the very first time but knowing that you have the capacity to save a life is extraordinarily empowering.  Indeed, through my years of emergency medical work I have saved some lives (about one in four were successfully resuscitated).  The satisfaction derived from these acts is unimaginable.

You probably will never use your training in CPR, ever.  But, why risk being unable to help?  It may be for your own family member or a friend or neighbour.

Do yourself, and those close to you an enormous favour.  Go get trained in CPR.

Glenn J. Nashen paracticing on Resusi-Annie

Bystanders obligated to help heart victims

 

Bystanders obligated to help heart victims: ER docs – CTV News.

 

I have long advocated for mass education in CPR.  Here, in Cote Saint-Luc, we have taught thousands of residents over the years how to perform this easy-to-learn lifesaving technique.  I agree completely with these ER doctors who call for mandatory teaching of CPR at every high school in Canada.  Click these links to see the news item.

Related articles

• Require CPR training in schools, ER docs urge (cbc.ca)

Every EMSB school to get a defibrillator

Every EMSB school to get a defibrillator (Montreal Gazette)

In my opinion:  The EMSB is doing the right thing by making emergency medical care readily accessible in all of its facilities.  But they can do much more by ensuring that every one of its students is trained in simple-to-learn CPR.  Each and every one of them is capable of saving a life, inside and outside of their school.

My letter to the editor of the Gazette

New CPR rules say skip mouth-to-mouth

New CPR rules say skip mouth-to-mouth (M0ntreal Gazette)

Major changes in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) were announced that will radically change this 50-year-old life saving technique and make it far more accessible to bystanders.

Related Articles

• New CPR Guidelines: Chest Compressions Come First (aolhealth.com)
• CPR First Aid Changes: Chest Presses First, Then Mouth-To-Mouth (huffingtonpost.com)

Glenn J. Nashen paracticing on Resusi-Annie in 2010 refresher class at CSL Parks & Recreation Department

Learn to Save a Life – Learn CPR

Volunteers from vCOP take a refresher in CPR and Automated External Defibrillation

 

I first learned Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation back in my high school days and have recertified at regular intervals ever since.  Standards have changed slightly through the years and simple to use, life-saving equipment such as Automated External Defibrillators or AEDs have been added to the course.  The fact remains, with as little as a couple of hours of education anybody can learn to save a life.   

Having served as an Emergency Medical Technician aboard Urgences Santé ambulances for 18 years I was called upon to perform CPR some 125 times.  While the very first time was somewhat of a shocker – while I stood frozen gawking at the patient in cardiac arrest awaiting my intervention, my partner (it was either Dennis Clement or Gary McHugh) grabbed me by the collar, slapped my face and pointed to my assigned spot on the floor beside the patient.  I never had another problem beginning CPR again.   

vCOP founder Glenn J. Nashen practicing on Resusci-Annie

 

The plain fact is that the average person will probably never need to perform CPR.  But, the more members of the public that get trained, the greater chance of having someone close-by when urgent and immediate action is needed.  

If saving the world one person at a time isn’t your thing then consider your immediate family.  If you haven’t taken the opportunity to learn CPR, or to take a refresher course,  how would you feel if your mother or father, brother, sister or child collapsed in cardiac arrest before your very eyes?  You have the choice to either be prepared to help your loved one when seconds really count or to look on helplessly.  The answer ought to be clear.The City of Cote Saint-Luc offers CPR courses every month at the Parks and Recreation offices on Mackle at Parkhaven.  Fees are reduced for CSL residents but available to all.  Call 514-485-6800 for details.  Or call the Heart and Stroke Foundation for a course near you. 

Related Articles

• CPR should be compulsory in high-school education (theglobeandmail.com)
• CPR: How to Save a Life (aolhealth.com)

Pool Safety: Prevention and Education

Pool and Spa Kids Safety Education Effort

Hundreds of pool and spa incidents this summer across North America, over 50 drownings in Quebec

Far too many preventable tragedies have been reported this summer regarding child drowning and non-fatal submersion incidents in pools and spas. In an effort to reduce these preventable incidents, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and partners Safe Kids USA and the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA) joined forces to introduce a new kids safety education program. The centerpieces of the program are a multi-part educational video and an online activity, which are part of CPSC’s national Pool Safely campaign.

“Just one incident is one too many,” said Inez M. Tenenbaum, Chairman of the CPSC. “These statistics are a wake up call and a reminder that these tragic incidents are preventable. Our kids safety program is designed to teach parents and children simple water safety steps so that everyone will Pool Safely this summer.”

The educational video highlights individual experiences and uses seven simple Pool Safely steps to encourage safe and responsible behavior in and around pools and spas. It is introduced by actress Ming-Na, the voice of Mulan in Disney animated films and star of the NBC drama “ER.” The video series is available to view at www.youtube.com/poolsafely and on the websites of Safe Kids (www.safekids.org) and the NDPA (www.ndpa.org).

The new Pool Safely interactive online activity is designed for parents and young children. It highlights unsafe behaviors around the pool in a variety of real-world settings such as backyard, hotel and community pools. Game players are encouraged to identify the trouble spots and behaviors.

“As the Cote Saint-Luc Councillor responsible for Public Safety I encourage all residents, especially if they own a backyard pool, but even for those who swim at public pools or at a lake to watch this video with their young children and to discuss pool safety rules with them,” said Glenn J. Nashen.

Additional information about Quebec’s new residential pool regulations is available by contacting the Urban Planning Department at City Hall and CPR courses are offered at reduced rates for residents every month through the Parks and Recreation Department, Nashen said.

Chain of survival not strong enough in Quebec

Letter to the Editor, Montreal Gaette

Re: Compulsory CPR urged; call for defibrillators (The Gazette, July 8, 2010):

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Early bystander CPR and access to an automated external defibrillator (AED) is essential to dramatically improve patient outcomes and to save lives. Yet Quebec continues to lag behind other provinces in this critical area. Mandatory CPR training in school is an obvious necessity. Low cost, mass training of the public of all ages is needed in all communities. AEDs should be easily accessible in all large public venues, office buildings, restaurants, theatres and sports facilities. Quebec must do more to strengthen the chain of survival.

Glenn J. Nashen

City Councillor (Public Safety)

Cote Saint-Luc

http://www.GlennJ.Nashen.com

Compulsory CPR urged for high schools

Compulsory CPR urged for high schools

Can hike survival rate by almost four times

By BRENDA BRANSWELL, The Gazette July 8, 2010

A charitable foundation that helps set up CPR training programs in high schools across Canada says Quebec should make it compulsory for students to learn the life-saving technique.

The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation has set up the CPR program in 75 per cent of Quebec’s public high schools, partly with financial help from the provincial government.

But the one thing Quebec hasn’t done is to make it a mandatory part of the curriculum as Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta have, says Sandra Clarke, the foundation’s executive director. “If the government doesn’t put it in the curriculum, then over time -with changing priorities, changing personnel and so on -it will gradually fall away.”

A provincial coroner recommended last week that the Education Department look at offering a CPR course at the high school level. The recommendation came from a public inquiry into the death of Yanick Charpentier, 12, who collapsed after being punched in a schoolyard in St. Eustache in 2007.

“The Quebec government is in a perfect position to easily make this a reality, since 75 per cent of Quebec high schools already have the resources they need and the teacher training to do it,” Clarke said.

A spokesperson for the Education Department said Quebec prefers to leave it up to school communities to choose the method of training that best responds to their milieu. CPR training is generally offered in the physical education and health course or as an extracurricular activity, said Ahissia Ahua.

The ACT Foundation works in partnership with the Quebec government, which Clarke said has been very supportive, providing $600,000 for mannequins that are used in the training.

The foundation donates a class set of 30 mannequins to each participating high school, which must commit to train all its students before graduation. It also arranges and pays for teacher training, bringing in an outside agency to train teachers to be CPR instructors for their students. In Montreal and Laval, Urgences Sante provides the training free, Clarke said.

Research shows that survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest can increase by almost four times if CPR is started quickly at the scene, Clarke said.

Yet at best the Heart and Stroke Foundation estimates that probably no more than 15 per cent of Canadians overall know how to administer CPR. “Canada’s rate of bystander CPR is abysmal,” said Dr. Laurie Morrison, spokesperson for the foundation.

The Quebec Heart and Stroke Foundation plans to develop training by next January for elementary students that will be offered by its instructors. For the first few grades, the training could involve, for example, safety at home and school and calling 911, said Michel Viau, the foundation’s provincial coordinator in emergency cardiovascular care. But students in Grades 5 and 6 are strong enough to do CPR, he added.

The ACT Foundation would like to see everyone learn CPR. “Who wants to be in that position of not knowing the simple skills that could save a life,” Clarke said.

bbranswell@thegazette.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Compulsory+urged+high+schools/3248773/story.html#ixzz0t75CYXgH

Equip police and schools with defibrillators: coroner

Equip police and schools with defibrillators: coroner
By RENE BRUEMMER
The Gazette
June 30, 2010

Yanick Charpentier might have survived a schoolyard fight in St. Eustache in 2007 if police or his school had been equipped with a defibrillator, a coroner said Tuesday.

After a public inquiry in March into the 12-year-old boy’s death, provincial coroner Andree Kronstrom recommended police cars be equipped with defibrillators and CPR courses be taught in high schools. St. Eustache police said their purchase of four defibrillators in the wake of his death has already resulted in the saving of four lives.

Charpentier died after trying to defend a girl who was involved in an argument with another student during recess. The 11-year-old punched Charpentier three to four times in the back, and once in the chest. He crumpled, suffering from an arrhythmia attack, which causes the heart to beat wildly out of control.

Teachers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and police took over when they arrived within three minutes.

Charpentier suffered from a heart condition that made him more susceptible to arrhythmia attacks and kept him from participating in strenuous sports.

The blow to the chest did not kill him, a cardiologist said.

“The altercation as a whole” (the emotion, physical exertion and the delivery of the last blow) caused his death, said pediatric cardiologist Joaquim Mirot, director of cardiology at Ste. Justine Hospital in Montreal.

A defibrillator sends an electric current through the heart, resetting its rhythm. If administered within three to four minutes, a patient’s chances of recovery can be as high as 80 per cent, but drop to 30 per cent soon after that.

Kronstrom recommended the St. Eustache police force be equipped with defibrillators in their cars and that other municipalities follow suit, as police officers are often first on the scene of an accident or injury.

She also recommended CPR courses become mandatory in high school, and that introductory courses be given as early as elementary school.

St. Eustache police officer Normand Brulotte announced the force had already acquired four defibrillators, which sell for less than $2,000 apiece, for their squad of 10 to 12 cars, and intends to purchase more.

Since they were installed in 2009, they’ve been used four times and saved four lives, Brulotte said.

The municipality also offers free four-hour courses on basic safety techniques and how to use a defibrillator, which is easy to learn. More than 1,200 people have taken the course.

In Montreal, firefighters equipped with defibrillators act as first responders at emergency scenes, Brulotte said.

Quebec is 20 years behind the United States and some Canadian provinces in terms of CPR training, said Michel Viau, of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec. As many as 72 per cent of Americans have had CPR training, he said. In Quebec, only six per cent have been taught.

“Nothing will bring my son back,” said Yves Charpentier, his voice breaking with emotion, his wife stepping forward to rub his back.

“But if lives can be saved because of what happened, at least some good can come of this.”

In my opinion:  ABSOLUTELY!  CPR should be mandatory for every high school student in Quebec and should be widely available at no, or low-cost.  Cote Saint-Luc Recreation offers a CPR course every month.   Call 514-485-6800 for the next date.  And, the more AEDs out there the better.  Cote Saint-Luc has about a dozen AEDs in major facilities and in all Public Security and volunteer Citizens on Patrol vehicles. (EMS also carries defibrillators but a more robust type).

Quebecers short-changed in pre-hospital emergency medical care

FR

April 3, 2009

Montreal Gazette
Letters to the editor (published Apr. 4, 2009)

Re: MDs call for air ambulance, Gazette, April 2, 2009

Why is it that Quebecers continue to be short changed when it comes to pre-hospital emergency medical care? Calls for air ambulance helicopters for major trauma and medical emergencies in rural areas has been going on for 20 years or more but we still have none in Quebec. The life-saving skills of advanced care paramedics is undeniable, unless you live in Quebec.

And why aren’t helmets mandatory for cyclists, or for skiers, when they are proven to reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury by 80%. The prevention of injury and reduction in visits to already crowded emergency departments and hospitalization would result in huge savings to taxpayers and would ease the burden on our over-stretched health care system.

Quebec prides itself in leadership and innovation yet trails far behind in pre-hospital emergency medical care and preparedness. Time to play catch up right now. Air ambulances, advanced care paramedics, helmets and wide-spread education in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation all save lives. Time to invest where it really counts.  Our lives depend on it.

Glenn J. Nashen
City Councillor (Public Safety)
Cote Saint-Luc

Postscript:  I have been advocating for legalization of paramedics in Quebec for 30 years.  Despite the widespread use of the word “paramedic” in Quebec over the last few years the province still does not permit ambulance technicians to perform advanced life support as in nearly all other jurisdictions across North America.

In the mid-90s I worked with then MNA Robert Libman to introduce helicopter air ambulances.  We asked the government to implement such a critical service but 15 years later the same questions are being asked.

Cotes Saint-Luc became the first municipality in Canada to legislate the wearing of bike helmets when I introduced this life-saving proposition.  This law has since spread widely across Canada but is still not mandatory here in Quebec.

Search this blog for more on paramedics, bike helmets and emergency medical services.

If you want to make a difference please call or write to your Member of the Quebec National Assembly and ask for support in legalizing advanced care paramedics, launching an air ambulance helicopter service and requiring all cyclists and skiers to wear a helmet.

CSL Council calls for quicker response time, Suburban

CSL Council calls for quicker response time-Suburban-1999-03-31

Resolution in support of pre-hospital emergency care

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF PRE‑HOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE

Adopted by the City Council of Côte Saint‑Luc

15 March 1999

WHEREAS the Auditor General of Quebec has issued a report on March 20th

1999 wherein certain observations and recommendations have come forth

with regard to Pre‑hospital Emergency Care in Quebec with a view to its

improvement;

WHEREAS the City of Côte Saint‑Luc has consistently promoted the need

for a higher level of training for Ambulance Technicians, and has long

advocated the recognition of Paramedics in a manner similar to that of

other Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions;

WHEREAS twenty‑one (21) municipalities in the MUC have already passed

resolutions declaring support for the recognition of Paramedics;

WHEREAS the City of Côte Saint‑Luc has vigorously promoted the teaching

of CPR to as broad a spectrum of its population as possible;

WHEREAS, in his said report, the Auditor General has pointed out the

inadequate ambulance response times and the relatively low percentage of

citizens of this province who are trained in CPR;

WHEREAS the City of Côte Saint‑Luc remains convinced that First

Responders must assume greater importance with the Pre‑hospital

Emergency Care system;

It was

MOVED BY   Councillor Glenn J. Nashen

SECONDED BY Councillor Ruth Kovac

AND RESOLVED:

“THAT the City of Côte Saint‑Luc reiterates its call for the

recognition of Paramedics and that they be permitted upon certification

to provide Advanced Life Support;

THAT Urgences Santé  be directed by the provincial authorities to

improve their ambulance response time;

THAT First Responders Services be encouraged by provincial authorities

and be provided with the tools necessary to provide effective and rapid

response;

THAT the Ministry of Health, in concert with the Ministry of Education

require that every student graduating from high school be trained in

CPR;

THAT the Ministry of Health, in concert with the Ministry of Education,

establish  a paramedic programme including Advanced Life

Support at the CEGEP level;

THAT a copy of the present resolution be sent to the following:

Auditor General of Quebec

Ministry of Health

Ministry of Transport

Ministry of Education

Opposition Critic for Health

Opposition Critic for Transport

Opposition Critic of Education

Executives of the Régie Régionale de la Santé  et des Services Sociaux de

la Région de Montréal Métropolitain

Director General of Urgences Santé

MNA for D’Arcy McGee

MUC Executives

Member Municipalities of the MUC.”

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Cities should run ambulance services, Gazette Op-Ed

Cities-should-run-ambulance-services-Gazette-oped-1998-08-08