B.C. considering AEDs in schools following student calls

After months of advocating for automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) to be installed in all Vancouver Schools, student advocates from Point Grey Secondary are finally hearing from the provincial government about incorporating the life-saving tools in all schools.

Minister of Education and Child Care Lisa Beare says having AEDs in all schools is a good idea.

“I fully support the students and their work on this. I believe AEDs are an important safety tool that should be located in schools alongside other safety equipment,” Beare said.

“There are a number of schools across the province that already have AEDs, so what I have asked my team is to take a look at where the gaps are and how we can fill that, because I want to see AEDs in our schools.”

Last year, Tobias Zhang and a cohort of other students raised funds to purchase AEDs to donate to Point Grey Secondary. However, Zhang says his school and the Vancouver School Board rejected the donation.

“They were worried about equality between schools. They did not want one school to have an AED over the other,” he said.

“They were worried about the cost of installation and maintenance, and the third reason is that they said the risks amongst high school students for cardiac arrest was too low.”

But Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi, a clinical professor of surgery at the University of British Columbia, says cardiac arrest can happen at any age, and when the heart stops pumping blood to vital organs, permanent brain damage can occur after just six minutes.

“The bare minimum is that they should be in every single school,” Gandhi said.

Zhang was determined to get AEDs installed in schools in the area after witnessing the death of his best friend, who went into cardiac arrest during basketball tryouts at Point Grey Secondary.

At the time, the 911 operator asked Zhang to use an AED, but the school wasn’t equipped with the life-saving equipment.

Beare says it is devastating to hear about the loss of a child — especially when it can be prevented. She says she and Premier David Eby will meet with Zhang this month to listen to his requests.

The ministry will take more action to prevent any further deaths in schools by making changes in grade 10 physical education and health curriculum, she says.

“We will be implementing CPR training in September,” Beare said.

“As part of that, I have asked my team to take a look at implementing AEDs in all high schools as well. AEDs can be co-located with other safety equipment in schools.”

Beare says the mandatory CPR training was a call to action mandated by the family of 18-year-old Sidney McIntyire-Starko, a student who died on the University of Victoria campus after collapsing in her dorm.

“There is clearly a gap around the CPR training, and the family made a call for it,” Beare said.

“So we made that commitment to the family and the public that we would have CPR training for this September.”

Although there has been no official confirmation that AEDs will be implemented in schools, Zhang says this is a good step in the right direction.

“It feels like I’m finally making good progress,” he said.

“I hope to prevent any cardiac-related deaths related to students and teachers around the Vancouver School Board schools.”