A donation of nearly $12,000 will go a long way toward helping the Martensville Fire Department (MFD) purchase several new Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).
Martensville Tim Hortons restaurant owner Camille Barzeele presented a cheque in the amount of $11,944.01 to the MFD on Wednesday, June 15. The funds were raised during the restaurant’s Smile Cookie campaign May 1-7. MFD members volunteered their labour to decorate the cookies sold during the week-long event.
Martensville Fire Chief Kurt Dyck said two new state-of-the-art AEDs, each worth several thousand dollars, will be purchased for the MFD’s two medical emergency response trucks. Additional AEDs for the fire response trucks will be purchased as funds allow.
“Currently we have five AED units,” said Dyck. “But they’re all about 10 years old, and getting close to the end of their useful life. They all need to be replaced,” said Dyck.
The new AEDs keep a constant pressure on the heart; moving blood and carrying oxygen to all parts of the body, while simultaneously analyzing the heart.
“They can analyze the heart rhythm while we’re doing CPR,” said Dyck. “The old ones obliged you to stop compressions to do the analysis.”
Dyck estimated the MFD responds to about half a dozen cardiac arrests annually.
Barzeele said the large donation reflected the strong support of the community for its volunteer fire department.
“A lot of people bought cookies,” she said.