BC Emergency Health Services has just launched the new provincial AED (automated defibrillator device) registry designed so 911 dispatchers can inform callers responding to a sudden cardiac arrest where the nearest AED is located.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is urging all those who have an AED in their business, school, church, community centre or even their own home to add their location to the on-line list. It could save a life.

“The new registry is a vital step in helping people find the closest AED when there is a sudden cardiac arrest,” says Adrienne Bakker, CEO, Heart and Stroke Foundation, BC & Yukon. “Without defibrillation and CPR, the chance of survival decreases by seven to 10 per cent for each minute that passes.”

“This includes businesses, churches, schools, municipal buildings, individuals with an AED in their home – everyone,” says Heart and Stroke resuscitation manager Shelley Parker. Users of the registry have the option to make their information public or to allow only BC emergency services to see it.

“It may be that you’re at home and your spouse has a sudden cardiac arrest. The 911 dispatcher could tell you that there is an AED two doors down,” Parker explains. “Or maybe you’re bowling with friends at Canyon Lanes in Boston Bar when a team member suffers a cardiac arrest and a 911 dispatcher can tell you exactly where to find the AED at the bowling alley.”

It only takes a few minutes to register your device at: www.bcpadprogram.ca. Those few minutes can save a life.

Since 2013, the provincial government has invested $ 2 million in the BC Public Access to Defibrillators (PAD) Program, which will be matched by Heart and Stroke Foundation donors. The PAD Program is committed to install 750 community AEDs in public venues throughout BC by 2017.

In BC, sudden cardiac arrest takes one life every four hours.

To see a list of AEDs registered in your area, please go to: https://www.bcpadprogram.ca/admin/contentx/default.cfm?h=11521&PageId=11521