TORONTO, Ontario, October 24, 2005 – A 48-year-old Toronto mother is feeling extremely thankful today that she was near the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) when a lethal irregular heart rhythm struck and almost took her life.

 

“She feels like she’s won the lottery of life,” said Albert Dowd of his wife, Suzanne, who was on her way to a baseball game with her son Mark, 12, on Sunday, October 9. Albert credited the quick action of several passersby, together with the MTCC’s security staff, who put their recent training on one of the Centre’s new portable heart defibrillators to work to revive Suzanne.  As a result, Suzanne and Albert are gratefully celebrating their 22^nd wedding anniversary this week.

 

A relatively young woman with no history of heart problems, Suzanne suddenly collapsed on the floor of the Skywalk passageway connecting the MTCC to the Rogers Centre.   Two off-duty nurses in the crowd of baseball fans recognized the signs of a potentially fatal heart attack.  At this point, Suzanne’s skin had turned a dark blue colour, she was not breathing and had no pulse – she clearly had only a matter of minutes.  They immediately began CPR and called over to the nearby MTCC offices for help. 

 

MTCC security officers Zissis Thomaidis and Lloyd Bedeau arrived at the scene just seconds later and began shocking Suzanne’s heart with their life-saving machine.  After the second shock, her heart returned to its normal rhythm and everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief.  As the emergency paramedics arrived by ambulance, Suzanne was already breathing again and her skin colour had returned. Suzanne was whisked off to the hospital and is now on her way to a full recovery.

 

“The doctors at the hospital told us that what happened was a miracle,” explained Albert.  “They were in awe of how quickly and expertly everybody did exactly what needed to be done to bring her back.  Suzanne’s condition was very, very grave.  She would definitely not have made it without this on-the-spot defibrillator treatment by the MTCC staff.  We are so very thankful!”

 

Garrie Wright, Coordinator of the Toronto EMS Cardiac Safe City Program, added that he is thrilled to see the MTCC’s emergency program working so well.  Garrie helped the MTCC to set up its cardiac emergency program, advising the Centre on what equipment to buy and providing all the training for the MTCC’s 25 security officers.

 

Garrie is also the driving force behind the installation of almost 160 defibrillators in 53 city-owned sites across the GTA.  Designed to save more lives, the Cardiac Safe City Program actively encourages the public to provide CPR when someone needs it, and promotes the use of Public Access Defibrillators.  The Program’s staff work closely with public places like the MTCC where large groups of people gather to ensure they can provide visitors with ready access to the equipment as well as to “Targeted Responders”:  staff trained how to use it effectively in case of a medical emergency.

 

The MTCC was the first facility in the GTA’s convention centre sector to install defibrillator technology, and Garrie described the MTCC ‘s leadership as critical to the Cardiac Safe City Program.  He noted that the Centre created real momentum by approaching him and asking to be one of the first facilities in the downtown core to get on board. “They sent out a big message when they set up their program.  They had a great deal of foresight,” said Garrie.  “All of the office buildings, attractions and other downtown spaces followed suit after the MTCC stepped up to participate.”

 

Currently there are 2,200 sudden cardiac arrests a year in Toronto, and only 2.5% of the people affected survive.  This is because time is of the essence when the heart stops beating properly:  the chances of surviving a heart attack decrease by 10% for every minute spent waiting for proper treatment to get the heart beating again.   Although Toronto’s EMS team has an excellent response time, Garrie explained, sometimes precious time is lost due to traffic congestion or the need for EMS staff to travel up multiple floors and across large areas to get to the victim.  And when that happens, it’s usually too late.

 

“In most cases, bystanders simply don’t know what to do when somebody collapses, with CPR being administered less than 7% of the time.  Our goal is to reduce the number of deaths,” he added.  “It’s a team effort, and we need the community’s help to have more positive outcomes. 

 

“Even with CPR, you can only maintain circulation for a very short period of time.  You need to shock the heart back into rhythm, and you need to do it as early as possible.   When a defibrillator is available on site and is used by trained people within four minutes or less of the onset of symptoms, the survival rate shoots up to 65%.  That’s a lot of lives saved!” 

 

“We’re just thrilled.  It’s an unbelievable feeling to know that we made such a big difference,” said Vince Quattrociocchi, the MTCC’s Vice-President, Operations.  “We’re incredibly proud of Zissis and Lloyd and how well they put their skills to work to help save this woman’s life.   This is the reason why we made this important investment. 

 

“Our space covers 2 million square feet, which is a huge area, and sometimes we have as many as 40,000 people on site.  We added this important defibrillator program because we wanted to do everything possible to provide a facility that’s safe and secure for both our clients and our staff.  It’s good to know that we’re well prepared for this kind of an emergency,” he added.