Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the outset I would like to thank Mr. Yakeleya for seconding the motion and I bring this motion forward in the interest of safety of our residents and the preservation of lives.
It’s a fact that defibrillators can make a life and death difference in the same way that a fire extinguisher can make a significant difference between life and death. AEDs are portable, easy to use, and modern technology, with some defibrillators, now provides voice prompt instructions and requires virtually no training whatsoever. That’s not to say that training is not required. It is required. If AEDs are combined with CPR, the use of a defibrillator can increase the likelihood of saving a person’s life by 75 percent or more.
The defibrillator works by assessing the heart of a person in cardiac arrest for what’s called a shockable rhythm. If such a rhythm is detected, the defibrillator requests the shock or a series of shocks to the victim’s heart. If no shockable rhythm is detected, no shock can be given.
Concerns and questions of safety have been raised in other jurisdictions about the public using defibrillators. Experts in the field say that in fact the technology is now so advanced that elementary school children can be equipped with the skills to successfully use a modern defibrillator simply through reading and writing and listening.
So why do I feel the government needs to get involved with the provision of AEDs? We talk a lot about prevention and how important prevention is. Having an AED readily available for a cardiac arrest situation is preventative and I feel it’s common sense for us to be prepared.
I want to tell a story that occurred last December when the Yellowknife MLAs held a tea for the Yellowknife seniors here in the Great Hall. I was appointed to be the emcee this particular year. So at the outset of the tea I mentioned a number of safety things, I advised where the washrooms were, I advised where the doors were for people to exit and so on, and one of the CAs came up to me after that brief introduction while the seniors were enjoying their tea and goodies and leaned over and whispered in my ear and said, where’s your first aid kit and do we have a defibrillator and where is it? And I went, um, I have no idea. I know where the safety kit is, but I have no idea whether or not we have a defibrillator.
So that got me started, and as the motion states, cardiac arrests can happen frequently and they can happen without warning. Unfortunately, as I’m well aware, our population is aging and we are going to get a more aged population every year. It’s a fact of life here and it’s a fact of life in Canada.
Luckily, we have AEDs in many of our buildings in the North already. It’s not that we don’t have any, we do have quite a few, but it’s a hit and miss situation and my goal is to try and make it a much less hit and miss.
The motion asks the government to determine where AEDs should be located. It also asks that this will allow the government to determine that they are as widely placed as possible and in as many buildings as possible. The closer an AED is to the person undergoing a cardiac arrest, the higher their chance of survival, and they say that three minutes, if you can get the AED and return to the person in three minutes, then there’s a very good chance of survival. So that means we need to have defibrillators in fairly close locations to people, wherever they are taking part in activities.
I mentioned, during the budget debate, that we have an opportunity to provide funding for communities in acquiring AEDs for their public buildings, when I was speaking to the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. We currently have an unused emergency fund. The Minister advised that there’s only one application before that fund in the ‘13-14 year. It would seem to me that we could put that fund to a much better use by advising communities that they can apply for funding to put AEDs into their communities and their public spaces and in their public buildings. It could also be used for training for those staff who happen to work in those buildings. I reiterate again that we shouldn’t be installing AEDs without also having training for the people who are close to them and need to know how to use them if a cardiac arrest situation occurs.
So, why have I referenced the Heart and Stroke Foundation and a number of other organizations? I don’t feel the government needs to do this on their own and we certainly have organizations that are out there. The Heart and Stroke Foundation, for sure, is very involved with heart conditions and cardiac arrests. They can provide valuable advice on what we should be doing and where we need AEDs and how many we need. They can identify the public places where people are and the public places where people are going to be at greatest risk for cardiac arrest. Certainly, they can tell us that those places, whatever is identified, would be the best ones where we can place a defibrillator. I say that we consult with them because there needs to be a review of the level of risk that is out there in terms of buildings and people and cardiac arrest.
I don’t believe that we have to do this all in one fell swoop. I think we can start with buildings and public places where we determine that people are at the greatest risk and start with those and make sure we have defibrillators in those places – and we may have some in many places already – then, in
stages, work our way outwards until we have defibrillators in as many places as we need.
The motion asks for some regulation, for some consistency around where we can find AEDs in the NWT and that’s what I’m after. We don’t need to blanket the NWT, but we certainly need to have more than we do now.
The other aspect of the motion is to ask for a registry, and that may seem like an onerous task, but I think that the locations of defibrillators, if known, can certainly aid somebody who is in a strange place. If we ever get 911, for instance, if I’m in a situation where I see a cardiac arrest happening and I don’t know where the defibrillator is, I could call 911, they could check the registry, they can tell me where it is, it can be gotten and applied to the person.
So I think a registry certainly will assist communities in knowing whether or not they’ve got defibrillators, whether they need to get more and it could potentially assist in a lifesaving situation.
I think this is a chance to improve circumstances in the NWT for all of our residents. I don’t think it will cost us much money, I don’t think it will cost us much time to get the work done required to accede to what’s requested in the motion.
I would hope that all Members would support the motion. Thank you very much.