MONTREAL -- All of Montreal’s 68 metro stations are now equipped with defibrillators -- a move the transit authority says it hopes will save lives.
The equipment can be used by anyone, including people with no medical training, to revive someone in cardiac arrest or who is having a cardiac emergency.
Language could be a barrier, but only to an extent: each kit comes with audio instruction in French only, but there is also a leaflet in French and English that tells the user what to do, namely to place pads on the victim’s chest and to administer compressions.
After announcing earlier its plans to do so, Montreal's transit authority has installed 76 of the automated external defibrillators (AEDs) across the network. In total, the STM purchased 209 AEDs at a cost of $306,379.
The list now includes at least one located near ticket booths. The equipment will also be installed at STM work sites and in service vehicles, though not in buses.
The location of the defibrillators is also available on the Jacques de Champlain Foundation’s AED-Quebec public registry and mobile app.
Salim Grim, manager of the Heart and Stroke Foundation's resuscitation program, said in March, when the project was announced that the AEDs will certainly save some people, since in cardiac arrest, time is of the essence.
“For each minute we lose after cardiac arrest, not using CPR or an AED, we are losing seven to 10 per cent of the chance of revival,” he said.
According to Grim, one Canadian suffers from cardiac arrest every 15 minutes. He noted that the AEDs are easy for anyone to use.
The installation of the equipment comes six years after a coroner recommended that each metro station be equipped with defibrillators and first aid kits.
