(Pictured above: Cornwall EMS Safety Coordinator Bradley Nuttley
demonstrates how a defibrillator is used with the help of General
Vanier Intermediate School student Alex Croteau.)
(Cornwall) - General Vanier Intermediate School (GVIS) is doing its part to guard the safety of the community, installing a new public access defibrillator at the school which is a popular site for plays, concerts, sporting and other public events.
The school officially recognized the donation of a Zoll defibrillator from the Heart and Stroke Foundation Monday during a ceremony at GVIS. Cindy Rowe, area Coordinator for the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry /Prescott-Russell branch of the Heart and Stroke Foundation was on hand, along with Cornwall EMS Safety Coordinator Bradley Nuttley to present the defibrillator to the school, which was represented by grade 7 student Alex Croteau.
“We really need this because General Vanier is the most widely used school facility in the city,” explained Vice-Principal Joe Harty, who helped organize the ceremony. “We are a community hub. We have a first-class auditorium and gymnasium that are used for a lot of community events and there are people in our community who may need it.”
GVIS teacher Cynthia Schwartz suggested getting involved in both Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart, which brought the Heart and Stroke Foundation to GVIS for a kick-off assembly in November. As part of the assembly, Cornwall EMS Safety Coordinator Bradley Nuttley demonstrated the AED (Automated External Defibrillator). When asked by Harty how GVIS could get one into their building, Nuttley recommended the school as a site for a Heart and Stroke Foundation program that funds purchase of public access defibrillators. He liked the site because of its high usage both by the school and the community.
The installation of the machine is particularly timely in Cornwall after a Heart and Stroke Foundation study suggested the city is among the highest risk areas in the province for heart disease.
The machine will be located outside the main office of the school so that it is centrally located for both indoor and outdoor events. Seven staff members at the school, as well as a community user have been trained in its use.
The machine will also be available for use by staff at the adjacent Catholic high school.
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For more information, please call:
Joe Harty
Vice-Principal
General Vanier Intermediate School
613-933-5500
Posted Feb. 1, 2010