Lanark County PAD Program

The Lanark County PAD program has been up and running for a few months now is continuing to grow. 

 Lanark County Ambulance Service became involved when the Office of Scott Reid, Member of Parliament for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington following a conversation with Medtronic of Canada of Mississauga, who contacted Manager Jim McIsaac.  Mr. Reid was planning on purchasing Public Access Defibrillators for Lanark County through the Canadian Heartland Program. "The Canadian Heartland program is an effort to make communities in rural Ontario healthier places in which to live, and more attractive homes for businesses." The Canadian Heartland Rural Healthcare Initiative started in 2001 when Reid held a “constituency referendum” to determine whether he should donate the proceeds of a $21,000 pay increase for MPs to charity. Since then, Reid has contributed the proceeds of the pay increase (over $100,000 so far) to a number of health-related causes, including the purchase of defibrillators for local fire departments, arenas, and Seniors’ centres. "Ready access to defibrillators and practical knowledge of CPR are low-cost ways to dramatically improve the survival rate of heart attack victims. However, rural areas have been traditionally overlooked by government when it comes to these vital measures," Reid stated.

 Their question at the time was about training.  Rick Warren, Base Manager, Lanark County Ambulance Service, as one of the few AED trainers with Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada in this area and the fact that we work in a related field was contacted about the concept of the program.  It was a natural fit as a Public Relations aspect to our normal job within the structure of the county.  As the Paramedic service responsible for the pre-hospital care of its constituents, Public Access Defibrillation is something we would naturally be interested in. 

 To date Lanark County Ambulance Service has done AED certification & training in Smiths Falls, Almonte and Perth.  We are aware that Carleton Place has a couple of Defibrillators within the town limits, however, we have not been contacted as of yet, to be involved in their care or training concerns. We are available to provide this service upon request.

 As of today there are 15 known PAD sites in Lanark County.

In addition on July 13, 2007 it was announced at a Press Conference in Smiths Falls at the Smiths Fall Civitan Club that 5 AED's have been allocated to Drummond North Elmsley Township as part of the Ontario Ministry of Health promotion Grant for Public Access Defibrilators within Lanark County.

Ø      Perth & District Civitan Hall                               - 6787 Highway 43

Ø      North Elmsley Community Hall                          - 120 Station Rd.

Ø      Drummond/North Elmsley Hall                           - 1920 Drummond Con 7

Ø      Ferguson’s Falls Hall                                         - 1362 Ferguson’s Falls Rd.

Ø      Drummond/North Elmsley Municipal Hall          - 310 Port Elmsley Rd.

Lanark County Ambulance Service’s role in the plan is basically around AED certification & training through the advice of Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. We have Base Hospital Policy & Procedures.  The appointed Physician in Charge is Dr. Raphael Shew, Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.   LCAS has appointed a co-ordinator (Rick Warren, Base Manager, LCAS).  We have in-house training offered through LCAS.

The first Friday of each month a LCAS staff member visits the site at their convenience and ensures the PAD devices are operational and correct.  This is acknowledged by the initialling of a document that remains with the machine.    We are also in contact with Medtronic re; maintenance issues and concerns with the devices, if we have any. 

 Any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself, James R. McIsaac, Manager, Lanark County Ambulance Service  (613) 257-7572  or Rick Warren, Base Manager, Lanark County Ambulance Service (613) 283-8040 at your convenience.