CPR program launched in Trois-Rivières high schools

TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QC, 21/11/07

Today, the Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation, in partnership with the Quebec Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sport, Ministry of Health and Social Services, and TransCanada Corporation, as the lead community partner, is launching the ACT High School CPR Program in Trois-Rivières.  The launch will take place at 10:10 a.m. at Collège de l’Horizon, 275, rue Montplaisir in Trois-Rivières. 

The launch of the ACT High School CPR Program in Trois-Rivières will empower more than 1,200 students from 5 local high schools empowered to save a life through CPR training.  The schools span the Commission scolaire du Chemin-du-Roy.  The communities reached through this implementation include Trois-Rivières and Louiseville. 

The ACT High School CPR Program is built on ACT’s award-winning community-based model of partnerships and support.  The lead community-level partner playing a key role in bringing the program to Trois-Rivières is TransCanada Corporation. “ The health and safety of the public and our employees is one of TransCanada’s top priorities,” says Brian McConaghy, vice-president, TransCanada Community, Safety and Environment. “ Because TransCanada does business in the local area, we seized the opportunity to help these young students gain the ability to make a serious contribution to the health and safety of others in their community.” 

The Government of Quebec is a provincial partner of the ACT High School CPR Program, through support from the Ministry of Education, Recreation, and Sports, and the Ministry of Health and Social Services. “ I am pleased to support the implementation in Québec of the High School CPR Training Program established by the Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation of Canada,” says Philippe Couillard, Minister of Health and Social Services. “ At a time when cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death, it is encouraging to know that more and more Québec residents will receive basic training in how to react in situations that could otherwise prove fatal.”  Also supporting the program at the provincial level are Sun Life Financial and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.  National partners are AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Pfizer Canada and sanofi-aventis. 

“We are thrilled with the support of ACT’s partners,” says ACT Foundation Executive Director Sandra Clarke. “ Without them, the Trois-Rivières program would not be possible.” 

Thanks to the support of ACT’s partners in Trois-Rivières, 180 CPR training mannequins have been donated to the 5 area high schools and 20 physical education teachers have been trained as CPR Instructors. 

To date, the ACT High School CPR Program has been implemented in 160 Quebec high schools and approximately 60,000 students have been empowered to save lives.  The ACT Foundation’s goal in Quebec is to expand the CPR Program to an additional 400 schools.  To help make this possible, ACT has secured a commitment of $600,000 from the Quebec government through its public / private funding partnership. 

Research indicates citizen CPR response can improve the survival rate for victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by almost fourfold.  With eight in 10 cardiac arrests occurring at home, empowering youth with CPR training as part of their high school education will help increase citizen CPR response rates over the long term. 

About the ACT Foundation
The ACT Foundation is an award-winning, national charitable organization dedicated to promoting health and empowering Canadians to save lives.  ACT is driving a national campaign to establish CPR as a mandatory program in every Canadian high school.  ACT raises funds for CPR mannequins for schools and guides schools in program set up.  The Foundation has already established the CPR program in over 1,000 high schools across Canada and more than 900,000 youth have been trained to date.  The Foundation and its core partners are winners of Imagine Canada’s “New Spirit of Community Partnership” Award.  Core partners are companies in the research-based pharmaceutical industry: AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Pfizer Canada and sanofi-aventis.  They provide ACT’s sustaining funding and are committed to the Foundation’s national goal of promoting health and empowering youth to save lives.  For more information visit: www.actfoundation.ca.