TORONTO - The Heart and Stroke Foundaton of Ontario and Scotiabank are teaming up to provide life-saving equipment to Ontario communities.
The two groups have each contributed $250,000 to provide 105 defibrillators and training programs to 15 communities over the next three years.
During the first phase of the initiative, 35 defibrillators will be distributed to Chatham-Kent, Simcoe County, Niagara, Kingston, and a fifth community in the north of the province to be named later.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation says about 6,500 cardiac arrests occur in Ontario each year.
The odds of survival for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are about five per cent.
But the survival rate increases to 50 per cent or better if the victim receives immediate CPR combined with early defibrillation.
