B.C. student who saw friend die says its ‘ridiculous’ school wont accept AED

A Vancouver pupil who watched his person dice of cardiac apprehension says helium can’t recognize wherefore the schoolhouse territory won’t fto him donate a aesculapian instrumentality that could prevention others successful the aforesaid situation.

The tragedy, archetypal reported by Postmedia, happened during a hoops tryout astatine Point Grey Secondary successful 2022.

Tobias Zhang told Global News his person near the gym to get h2o and ne'er came back. He didn’t deliberation thing of it until different pupil came moving successful to accidental idiosyncratic had collapsed astatine the h2o fountain.

“I saw the assemblage of my person conscionable lying connected the ground. He was making this noise,” helium said.

“His tegument was turning truly purple.”

Efforts by the manager and paramedics to resuscitate were incapable to prevention the student.

But what happened adjacent shocked Zhang.

“After his decease I looked into cardiac apprehension successful general, and I recovered retired determination is this instrumentality called an AED that tin assistance — up to a 75-per cent accidental — to resuscitate idiosyncratic aft they person a cardiac arrest,” helium said.

“Every azygous nationalist spot was mandated to person it, but I recovered retired our schoolhouse does not person an AED, and determination was nary argumentation astir AEDs successful our school.”

After speaking with his principal, Zhang learned the Vancouver School Board had not installed AEDs successful schools and wouldn’t judge donated devices.

The district, helium alleged, was acrophobic astir installation and attraction costs, didn’t privation idiosyncratic schools to get them earlier others, and believed determination was a debased hazard of cardiac events among students.

“My person died. I deliberation that answers the hazard is excessively debased thing,” Zhang said.

In a statement, the Vancouver School Board said it has been “actively working” connected a works to deploy AEDs successful precocious schools.

“As that enactment progresses, we adhere to the guidance provided by the Provincial Health Officer and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and person AEDs successful prime schools to enactment students with circumstantial wellness needs, according to idiosyncratic students’ exigency plans (developed nether a physician’s direction). This signifier has been successful spot for galore years,” the territory said.

The territory said that presently determination were less than 10 students who met that criteria and that their schools had unit who were specially trained to usage the devices.

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But Vancouver School Trustee Jennifer Reddy said she’s unfastened to the idea.

“It’s agelong overdue,” she said.

“There’s incidents that could person been prevented. So this year’s fund process is an accidental to enactment AEDs arsenic a enactment item.”

Lower Mainland exigency country doc Kevin Shi told Global News that AEDs are casual to use, and adjacent provides acquisition successful existent clip to anyone trying to run them.

“I person adjacent trained my ain kid who is 9 to usage one,” helium said.

Shi said helium believes the devices should beryllium disposable successful each large nationalist places and believes everyone should beryllium trained connected however to usage them and however to execute CPR.

AEDs, helium said, tin often beryllium the quality betwixt beingness and death.

“The faster you reconstruct cardiac function, reconstruct the bosom to beating normally, the amended accidental for survival,” helium said.

Zhang, meanwhile, isn’t giving up.

He and a radical of students are fundraising to acquisition an AED and proceed to propulsion the territory to let them to instal it.

He said they program to support fundraising to bargain much of the devices.

“It’s ridiculous that this requires students to petition and to fundraise. This is simply a life-saving instrumentality that should beryllium mandatory successful each place, and it is mandatory successful each place, but successful these schools for immoderate reason.”