Public Access Defibrillation Program

Our Vision
To save more victims of sudden cardiac arrest through comprehensive and sustained support of strategic, evidence-based placement of Automatic External Defibrillators (AED’s) and personnel trained to use them, within the Province of New Brunswick.

Who We Are
NB EMS currently operates Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in the Province of New Brunswick. Our Paramedics provide both basic and advanced life support to our communities. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada sets the Canadian Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation and other aspects of emergency cardiovascular care, encouraging the public to be trained and to initiate CPR and AED skills.

Why We Care So Much About Early Defibrillation
More than 35,000 Canadian lives are lost each year due to sudden cardiac arrest. Defibrillation improves survival rates by up to 30 percent if delivered in the first few minutes. With each passing minute, the probability of survival declines by 7 to 10%. Making defibrillators easily accessible has the potential to save lives. Early CPR and access to an AED have been proven to increase survival rates.  Even though our Paramedics are equipped to deliver this treatment, it is absolutely essential that defibrillation be completed as soon as possible after someone suffers sudden cardiac arrest. That’s why, in addition to our ongoing efforts to respond to EMS calls as quickly as possible, we are offering an education and support program for defibrillation through our Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) program.

Where Sudden Cardiac Arrests Occur
Studies have confirmed that cardiac arrest happens just about anywhere anytime including private homes, public places like shopping malls and golf courses, and at the work place. We know that we can save more lives if we can speed up the delivery of defibrillation to all of these patients. To do that, we’re looking to our community partners to help us save the lives of those that experience sudden cardiac arrest outside their homes.

How You Can Help Us Save Lives
As a provincial ambulance service, we are doing everything possible to improve sudden cardiac arrest survival. We deploy our paramedics in the community, use an integrated and internationally accepted dispatch protocol to ensure sudden cardiac arrests are identified early, and we maintain partnerships with Fire Departments across the province that deliver defibrillation when required. That said we are confident that with the support of our community, we can further improve cardiac arrest survival. Together with community partners like The Heart and Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick who provide us with guidance and direction, NB EMS is seeking the support of a Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) program.

We are ready to offer a base level membership with menu options to interested organizations:

Base Level of Membership
Interested organizations purchase a defibrillator (we can help choose one), and NB EMS assists the base level registrant by:

• Registering the defibrillator with our PAD Program
• Registering the defibrillator with the Medical Communications and Management Centre (MCMC) which may facilitate use of the device at the time of an emergency
• Public recognition of your support of the PAD Program
• Provide information regarding Health Canada approved AED’s
• Visiting your work site once per year to establish or revise a Medical Emergency Response Plan that works for you
• Providing reminders to the contact person regarding CPR and AED recertification.

Available Menu Options

• CPR/AED Training
• Formal and written review of every use of the AED by a Physician
• Scenario based practice sessions

We can also arrange for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing if required, at no cost to program registrants, to assist those involved in a resuscitation attempt.