Quebec government makes High School CPR mandatory

MONTREAL, QC--(Marketwired - November 23, 2017) - Congratulations to Sébastien Proulx, Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports, who announced that CPR training will now be mandatory for all secondary 3 students throughout Quebec.

The ACT Foundation has been working in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports, the Ministry of Health and Social Services, and medical directors around the province since 2006 to set up the CPR training program in all public high schools. This began with an initial commitment from the Health Minister at the time, Dr. Philippe Couillard.

Since that time the ACT Foundation has set up the CPR program in 400 public high schools while urging the Quebec government to make CPR training mandatory at the provincial level to ensure the long-term life of the program.

More than 1,600 teachers have been trained as instructors and these teachers have trained over 500,000 secondary students to date, with 68,000 more trained each year. Many lives have already been saved as a result of this lifesaving program (see link for many rescue stories).

The ACT Foundation is the charitable organization that is establishing the high school CPR program throughout Quebec and across Canada. ACT, with the support of its national health partners, AstraZeneca Canada, Sanofi Canada and Amgen Canada, and its community partners, have donated more than 11,000 CPR training mannequins to Quebec schools.

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 secondary school education will dramatically increase citizen CPR response rates over the long term and help save many lives.

"We are thrilled that CPR will now be mandatory in high schools," says Sandra Clarke, the ACT Foundation's Executive Director. "This will ensure the training that we have established in schools through the province will continue over the long term. Students will bring their lifesaving skills to their current and future families, building stronger communities and saving lives."

The ACT Foundation's next milestone is working with high schools to add the defibrillator training to the CPR program.

About the ACT Foundation

The ACT Foundation is the national charitable organization that is establishing the free CPR and AED program in Canadian high schools. The program is built on ACT's award-winning community-based model of partnerships and support. ACT's Health partners who are committed to bringing the program to Quebec and across Canada are AstraZeneca Canada, Sanofi Canada, and Amgen Canada. To date, the ACT Foundation has set up the CPR Program in more than 1,790 high schools nation-wide, empowering more than 3.9 million youth to save lives.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/11/23/11G148119/Images/Student_CPR_Demo-ae3d87f9b5d7a6e7aa954c9db8779571.jpg