New IOM Report on Cardiac Arrest Recommends CPR Training in Schools

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 30, 2015) - Today, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) presented the IOM Report on Cardiac Arrest entitled, "Strategies to Improve Cardiac Arrest Survival: A Time to Act". Their second recommendation "Fostering a culture of action" emphasizes that the time to first compression and first defibrillation is crucial to increase survival outcome.

The report also highlights the important role of schools in increasing citizen CPR training and response.

With eight in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring at home or in public places, empowering youth with CPR training as part of their high school education will dramatically increase citizen CPR response rates and save lives.

The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation is the national charitable organization that helps high schools across Canada set up free CPR and defibrillator training programs for students. Teachers are trained as CPR and defibrillator instructors for their students. To date, 2.9 million students have been trained and hundreds of lives saved.

See www.actfoundation.ca for many stories of students who have saved the lives of their parents, siblings, friends and strangers in cardiac arrest emergencies. Contact ACT to find out about the 19 year old who saved her five year old sister, the 15 year old who saved his twin brother, and more!

About the ACT Foundation

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization that is establishing the CPR and AED program in Canadian high schools. The Foundation finds local partners who donate CPR mannequins, AED training units, and AEDs to schools. High school teachers then teach CPR and how to use a defibrillator to all students. ACT's health partners are AstraZeneca Canada, Pfizer Canada and Sanofi Canada.