In an effort train instructors to help empower students and save lives, the ACT High School CPR and Defibrillator program recently came to Nain to spend some time with local teachers. As a result and moving forward, each year, Jens Haven Memorial School students will have the option to be trained to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED). 

ACT, in community partnership with Vale, and health partners AstraZeneca Canada and Sanofi Canada, were thrilled to bring this lifesaving program to Nain.

Thanks to the support of ACT’s partners, Jens Haven Memorial School has received training mannequins, AED training units, curriculum materials, program set-up and a defibrillator for cardiac arrest emergencies. In addition to the high school program, Jens Haven Memorial teachers and staff were also trained in CPR and learned how to use a defibrillator.

"Vale is pleased to be supporting ACT in the delivery of this vital training to teachers in the schools in Nain,” says Peter Langlois, General Manager of Vale’s operations in Labrador. 

Through the ACT High School CPR Program, teachers instruct their students about:

• RISK factors for cardiovascular disease and the importance of adopting a heart healthy lifestyle
• How to RECOGNIZE a developing medical emergency
• How to REACT, by calling 9-1-1 quickly and how to help while waiting for the ambulance to arrive
• How to RESUSCITATE by performing CPR and using an AED
• How to perform the obstructed airway manoeuvre 

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization that is creating a culture of lifesaving by establishing the CPR and AED program in all high schools.

To date, the ACT Foundation has set up the CPR Program in more than 1,740 high schools nation-wide, empowering more than 3.2 million youth to save lives. For more information about the ACT Foundation, visit our website at www.actfoundation.ca.