The Manitoba government is financing the distribution of 1,000 heart defibrillators in public spaces across the province as part of a $1.3-million program to make the life-saving devices more accessible to cardiac arrest victims.
“We know the chance of survival is increased by almost 75 per cent when a heart defibrillator is used with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It can really mean the difference between life and death,” said Health Minister Theresa Oswald in a release.
The free defibrillators will make it easier to acquire the life-saving devices for non-profit and community-owned public facilities that will soon be required to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) available on site under new provincial legislation.
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The province of Manitoba was the first in the country to develop legislation to require high-traffic public facilities like schools, hockey arenas, community centres, fitness clubs and curling rinks to have a defibrillator on site.
A full list of designated public places required to have a defibrillator on site, as well as information about the types of defibrillators that are acceptable and how they must be installed and registered is available at www.gov.mb.ca/health/aed/. Information about the free defibrillator initiative is available at www.heartandstroke.mb.ca/AEDlegislation.
