Quebec slow to install more defibrillators in public places

Improving access to automated external defibrillators (AED) could increase the number of survivors of cardiac arrest by almost 50 per cent, according to the Jacques-de Champlain Foundation. It denounces the Legault government’s inaction in implementing its own plan to deploy more AEDs across the province.

In 2022, the government tabled an Action Plan that included a bill to regulate access to automated external defibrillators. That same year, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, presented a global strategy for the deployment of 1,000 AEDs across Quebec.

The strategy began with the installation of 100 defibrillators in the ATMs of Desjardins and Banque Nationale financial institutions. Based on the results of this first phase, a further 900 AEDs were to be deployed, but they still haven’t been.

“Since then, radio silence. The bill is still not in the process of being tabled,” deplores the Fondation Jacques-de Champlain in a press release. It’s unacceptable,” says François de Champlain, founding president of the foundation, in an interview. If we’re coming out like this right now, it’s because we’re exasperated.”

The foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to increasing the survival rate of victims of cardiac arrest by optimizing access to and use of automated external defibrillators.

One of the Foundation’s achievements is the creation of a provincial registry of AED locations in Quebec. These locations can be found on a free mobile application called AED – Quebec.

For 10 years, the foundation has been calling for legislation to improve access to AEDs. It said on Thursday that “no progress” has been made in adopting such a law, and believes that Dubé has chosen instead to focus on administrative reform of the healthcare system, arguing that a law on defibrillators in public spaces could save lives.

It was a defibrillator that saved my life,” says Jean-Philippe LaRose, a cardiac arrest survivor and director of the Jacques-de Champlain Foundation. It’s only natural that my dearest wish is that everyone should have the same chance of survival as I did. With this bill, we’re very close to that goal. I can’t understand why we don’t yet have a law improving access to AEDs in Quebec.”

In Quebec, nearly 10,000 people suffer cardiac arrest every year, and unfortunately, nine out of 10 die as a result. “I’m in favor of democratizing medical aid in dying, but here we’re talking about a medical aid-in-dying initiative. For us, it’s such an important issue, and we have the impression that it’s being swept under the rug at the moment,” de Champlain laments.

“As an emergency physician, I’ve all too often had to tell bereaved patient families that they’ve just lost a loved one. And I know very well that if there had been a defibrillator accessible in this public place, the story could have ended completely differently,” says de Champlain.

Estimates suggest that up to 200 lives could be saved every year. “It’s a simple law, one that should be transparent across elected officials. We should follow the Canadian trend and move forward in Quebec,” he argues.

Manitoba is doing well in this respect. This Canadian province has a law on access to AEDs and enjoys one of the highest levels of access in the country, with 324 AEDs per 10,000 inhabitants in 2020. Quebec is one of the provinces with the poorest record, with 27 AEDs per 10,000 inhabitants in 2020.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews