Brandon School Defibrillators

With the recent death of Roblin Principal David Degroot, the topic of Automatic External Defibrillators in schools is gaining popularity. Dwight Kearns, the Brandon School Division’s Physical and Health Specialist, says that the division is working diligently to implement an AED in every school.

“We already have one in all of the high schools, as well as George Fitten School. It’s our priority to outfit every school, starting with schools that allow their gyms to be used by the public,” said Kearns.

David Degroot died early May of a severe aortic valve stenosis, a severe narrowing of the aortic valve in the heart. Although an AED would not have solved the problem, there is a chance it could have helped until professional medical help arrived.

“It may not have helped, but in a situation like that, it certainly could not have made it any worse,” said a BU nursing student, who asked not to be named. “Best case scenario would be saving a life, worst case scenario would be making no difference.”

The AEDs in Brandon schools are located in high traffic areas, usually right outside of the gym. Although AEDs come with very straight forward instructions on their use, Kearns said the division sends several teachers from each school for first aid training.

“We try and send a few teachers from each school for Canadian First Aid Training from each school so they can form a sort of First Aid Committee for their school. We usually send about 50 teachers a year.”

Brett Nohr, a physical education teacher at Vincent Massey, is one of the teachers who has been trained in the use of an AED.

“All 5 of the physical education teachers at Vincent Massey have taken the one day course offered by Heart and Stroke Foundation,” said Nohr, “and the plans right now are to get an instructor to come in and start teaching AED use in the grade 10 health classes to make sure all the students are informed.”

AEDs are starting to become more and more publicly accessible, with stations popping up in malls, workplaces and schools all across the province.