Essex-Windsor EMS is issuing a call to action, asking the public to help find the location of every automatic external defibrillator across the region and to help get more installed.
Defibrillators, or AEDs, are electronic devices that can be used to restart a person's heart if it has stopped beating.
As part of the effort to locate every AED across the region, the public is encouraged to download a smartphone app called PulsePoint and use it to map and register any defibrillators they find in a public space or at a business.
The uploads are then authenticated by PulsePoint, and shared with the Windsor Central Ambulance Communications Centre so their location can be quickly conveyed in the event of an emergency, and then shared with the 911 caller.
Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Justin Lammers says PulsePoint also lets them ensure the AEDs are ready for use when the time comes.
"So we can enter the expiry dates of the consumables on the product, and then we can work with the owners of the Public Access Defibrillators to make sure if somebody uses it, the batteries aren't dead, and it has the appropriate equipment needed," he says.
There are around 560 defibrillators that have been registered, but it's estimated there could be as many as 1,000 across the area.
AEDs in public locations are called Public Access Defibrillators, or PADs.
Lammers says bystander CPR was conducted on 161 occasions in 2023, but a Public Access Defibrillators (PAD) was only used in 11 of those cases, a figure that needs to be higher.
"CPR is fundamental, but AEDs increase the chance of survival significantly," he says. "CPR alone is good if you don't have an AED; CPR for sure, hands only. But an AED just brings that chance of survival up much higher."
Survival rates following instances of sudden cardiac arrest improve dramatically if a shock from a defibrillator is received within three minutes of collapse and decrease every minute after that.
As part of the campaign to encourage more businesses to install AEDs, Chief Lammers awarded a Cardiac Champion certificate Thursday to Paul Giberson, the owner of Post Packaging in Lakeshore.
Giberson purchased an AED and worked with Essex-Windsor EMS to arrange training for some employees.
Giberson says he took his responsibility to ensure a safe workplace very seriously and encouraged other area businesses to respond to Essex-Windsor EMS' call to action.
Click here to find more information about the PulsePoint app and AEDs on the County of Essex website.