Vancouver students raise funds to equip high schools with AEDs

A group of Vancouver students are launching a fundraising campaign Saturday to equip high schools across the city with life-saving automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

Franco Ng, an adviser to the student initiative, says it started at Point Grey Secondary School, with students advocating for mandated AED funding after a Grade 10 student passed away last year due to a sudden cardiac arrest.

“Unfortunately, their school didn’t have a AED present, and after some digging and realization, we realized that the entire Vancouver School District is the only [major school district in B.C.] that doesn’t have one,” he said.

That student was not the only one who needed the technology in the district.

“There have been multiple instances with students facing cardiac arrest or sudden heart issues within schools,” Ng said

AEDs have a life-saving rate of 90 per cent, he says.

The students’ fundraising campaign is running at five Purebread Bakery locations across Vancouver between Oct. 12 and Dec. 12. It launches Saturday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Purebread location on West 4th.