As a result of this training, teachers will empower more than 730 local youth with lifesaving CPR training each year.
Eight in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur at home, and research suggests that citizen
CPR can increase the chance of survival fourfold.
Teachers from Westmount High School, James Lyng High School, John F. Kennedy High
School, Lakeside Academy and École Secondaire d’Anjou, participated in this important
workshop, which enables them to train students in the English Montreal School Board,
Lester B. Pearson School Board, and la Commission Scolaire Pointe-de-l’île.
“In addition to empowering youth to save lives, the ACT Program has a strong health
promotion message,” says Sandra Clarke, Executive Director of the ACT Foundation. “Students
learn about risk factors for heart disease and the importance of adopting heart healthy lifestyle
behaviors at a young age. They will then bring their health promotion message and lifesaving
skills to their present and future families.”
The ACT Foundation’s health partners, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer Canada and
sanofi-aventis, as well as provincial partner, Sun Life Financial, provide funding for
mannequins and program start-up in the community of Westmount and the province of
Québec. Their funding is matched by the Government of Quebec in a public-private initiative.
Teacher training for the ACT High School CPR program is provided by Urgences-Santé for all
School Boards in Montreal and Laval.
“From the standpoint of the health and well-being of the population, it is important to ensure
that citizens receive early training in CPR,” says the Honourable Michelle Courchesne, Minister
of Education, Recreation and Sports. “I am proud to support the Advanced Coronary
Treatment Foundation (ACT) of Canada, which, through its High School CPR Program, is offering its services to Quebec schools by training adults in the community who will, in turn,
introduce students to the technique of CPR.”
To date, the program has been set up in 289 high schools in Quebec, and100,000 students
have been trained to save lives. The goal of the ACT Foundation is to implement the program
in all of Quebec’s 400 high schools.
“The teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques comes under the public-health
endeavors to prevent the tragic consequences of cardiovascular accidents,” says the
Honourable Yves Bolduc, Minister of Health and Social Services. “I am very pleased indeed to
support Quebec's deployment of this program, whose success can be seen in the clear interest
shown by teenagers in learning resuscitation techniques and in their ability to put them into
practice.”
To learn about ACT’s many student heroes visit www.actfoundation.ca
The ACT Foundation is a national, award-winning charitable organization driving a national campaign to establish CPR training in high schools across Canada. ACT raises funds to donate mannequins, teacher training, manuals and other materials to schools and guides them in program set-up to ensure long-term sustainability of the program. Teachers train their
students as a regular part of the curriculum. Core partners behind ACT’s national campaign are
AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Pfizer Canada and sanofi-aventis.
