650 KAWKAWA LAKE ROAD

HOPE, B.C.
V0X 1L4
Phone (604) 869-2411 (Hope residents)
Phone (604)796-2225 (Agassiz residents)
Fax (604) 869-7400

March 26, 2018

The Honourable Rob Fleming

Minister of Education
PO Box 9045, Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9E2
Via email: EDUC.Correspondence@gov.bc.ca

Dear Minister Fleming,

Re: Automatic External Defibrillators

Our corporate Board of Education recently passed an initiative to purchase Automatic External
Defibrillator (AED) units for all of our School District’s buildings. Those units have been installed, and
staff have been trained in their use.

We are satisfied to know that the children and the staff in our district are protected if there should be a
cardiac emergency, since Emergency Responders may be some distance away, when time is of the
essence.

However, we are concerned for the safety of all of the children in our province (hence our recent request
— through BCSTA — that there be a heightened awareness that children on highways at night are
vulnerable, and that better lighting could increase their visibility and their safety).

We therefore urge you and your colleagues in the Legislative Assembly to entertain a motion to follow
the example of the province of Manitoba, and make it mandatory that all public and private school
buildings in B.C. have such AEDs readily available.

Thank you for your attention to this vital matter.

Sincerely,

Linda Kerr
Board Chair
School District 78 (Fraser-Cascade)
ENCLs:
 Excerpt from:
A heartbeat Away
By Ashley Burke CBC News

The phone rang on a Friday morning in February.

It was Griffin's school.

"Griffin stopped breathing...come right away."

...
It’s not known whether an automated external defibrillator, or AED, would have saved
Griffin’s life.
What is known is that Orleans Wood Elementary School didn’t have one on hand that day.

The devices, a common sight at hockey rinks and other public buildings across Canada,
deliver an electric shock to help a patient’s heart return to its normal rhythm. They’re easy
to use, and can save lives when seconds count.
“For every minute where you don’t have defibrillation, your chances of survival decrease
by 10 per cent,” said Darryl Wilton, president of the Professional Paramedic Association
of Ottawa.
“If you don’t put an AED in a school and someone suffers cardiac arrest, that person is
almost guaranteed to die. I think the choice is pretty clear.”

It’s not mandatory for boards in Ontario to equip their schools with defibrillators.
Manitoba is the only province that requires all public places, including schools, to
have AEDs on hand.

According to Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter, the province has spent $10
million to buy defibrillators for public facilities, including schools.
“School boards are able to provide AEDs for schools, and many of them do have that
in place,” Hunter told CBC.
Unlike the OCDSB, Ottawa’s Catholic board has equipped every one of its schools
with AEDs.
 SD78 trustee advocates for defibrillators in schools
Says machines could save lives of students, staff
Nina Grossman, Agassiz-Harrison Observer

Fraser-Cascade School District 78 (SD78) trustee Tom Hendrickson is hoping to have all schools in the
district equipped with automatic external defibrillators (AED) in the near future.

AEDs deliver electric shocks to patients in cardiac arrest, helping to return the heart to its normal
rhythm. The machines are safe and simple, with voice prompts directing the administrator.

According to the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s website, the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest more
than double when early CPR is administered along with an AED in the first few minutes.

Hendrickson made a recommendation for the school board to look into the lifesaving machines at the
SD78 meeting in Agassiz Nov. 14.

“Over the years, whether its on gym floors or hockey rinks or in playgrounds, youth have dropped with
heart failure,” he says. “The one that got me was young Griffin Martin.”

Martin was only eight years old when his heart stopped beating during recess at Orleans Wood
Elementary School in Ottawa, Ont. in February.

While mystery still surrounds the cause of the boy’s sudden cardiac arrest, it is possible an AED could
have saved his life. Martin’s parents have been crusading to have AEDs installed in schools in their late
son’s district since his death.

Even before Hendrickson heard of the Ontario boy’s death he had advocated for increased focus on
heart health in schools.
“This isn’t something that just came out of the blue,” he says. “I’ve been watching our kids when they
play extreme sports like basketball and football or whatever…and they are really straining.”

“What we have to understand is, we are responsible for the safety of students when they come into our
schools. And that’s safety from everything: from bullying, from everything,” Hendrickson adds.

“The parents and guardians have to feel that the school district is doing everything within their power
to make sure their children are safe.”

Hendrickon adds that the AEDs could save the lives of school staff and administration as well.

The trustee has made a motion to the school board, and a decision will be made at the Dec. 12 meeting.

“If it passes, then I can assure you that the units will be in all of our facilities,” says Hendrickson.
 Agassiz schools to be equipped with defibrillators

AEDs to be installed in all SD78 schools and buildings

Nina Grossman Dec. 17, 2017 10:30 a.m.

All school district 78 (SD78) schools and buildings will soon be equipped with automatic
external defibrillators (AED) after a motion by trustee Tom Hendrickson was passed at a board
meeting Dec. 12.

Hendrickson introduced the motion at a Nov. 14 meeting, citing the tragic loss of eight-year-old
Griffin Martin, who died earlier this year after going into cardiac arrest during recess at an
Ottawa elementary school.

AEDs deliver electric shocks to patients in cardiac arrest, helping to return the heart to its normal
rhythm.

According to a presentation by Assistant Superintendent Kevin Bird, the machines will be

installed in alarmed cases in all SD78 sites.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s website says the chances of surviving a cardiac arrest more
than double when early CPR is administered along with an AED in the first few minutes.

“Waiting for an ambulance to arrive would take too long,” Bird said. We would have them
installed at school so they can be immediately grabbed and brought to the places where they
would most likely be needed.”

Bird said factors like age, activity, sports and unknown heart conditions, especially in youth, are
just a few of the reasons the AEDs are necessary.

“We do have an aging teaching population so there may be other needs in the school as well,” he
added.

In November, Surrey high school basketball player Raphael Alcoreza went into cardiac
arrest during a game at Holy Cross Regional High School.

The Grade 12 student had told coaches he felt dizzy and lightheaded before he collapsed
and was rushed to hospital. He died in hospital in early December.

“We don’t know if one of these machines would have saved him,” Hendrickson said to the
board Tuesday night. “But it is our responsibility as trustees to give every opportunity and
every chance to kids.”

The province of Manitoba has had a Defibrillator Public Access Act since 2013, requiring all
high-traffic public places to be equipped with AEDs, and a number of school districts across B.C.
have already equipped their facilities.

Cost and funding for SD78’s AEDs have not yet been determined.