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Quality Foods is taking steps to save lives in Parksville Qualicum Beach

Twelve locations will carry ‘life- saving’ devices for emergencies
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Store manager Randy Henson shows off the new Automated External Defibrillator (AED) at the Parksville Quality Foods

Vancouver Island grocer Quality Foods is making life saving AED devices available in twelve communities where they have stores, registering with the B.C. Public Access to Defibrillation (PAD) Program.


Quality Foods founding partners John Briuolo, Ken Schley and Noel Hayward said they are pleased to announce that each Quality Foods location, including the main distribution centre, are now outfitted with an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).


“We have made known to 911 ambulance dispatchers and businesses in the vicinity of our stores through chambers of commerce that there is an AED nearby, and that it’s available should they have a cardiac situation in or around their businesses,” the company said in a news release.


As part of the new program, a number of employees in each location have been trained on the devices, supplemented with CPR basics.


“Information from the Heart and Stroke Foundation tells us that, when an AED and CPR are immediately available in certain heart-


related circumstances, the patient’s situation is substantially improved,” said Schley, “so this is one more way that we can give back to our communities, from the perspective of aiding 911 dispatchers, first responders and the general public.”


The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada describes the AED as a small, portable device used to identify cardiac rhythms and deliver a shock to correct abnormal electrical activity in the heart. As a result of the sophisticated electronics in an AED, the operator is only advised to deliver a shock if the heart is in a rhythm which can be corrected by defibrillation. If a shockable rhythm is not detected, no shock is able to be given and the provider is then instructed to perform CPR until emergency medical services arrive.


“It gives us peace of mind knowing that we could make a difference in helping a very desperate situation,” said Schley.


— NEWS Staff/Submitted By The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada