Helping save a life inspires N.S. nurse to push for more defibrillators in rural community

Eastern Shore nurse Pam Josey recalls a day last December when she was driving home from her clinic and noticed a man lying on the ground receiving CPR at a Sheet Harbour, N.S., gas station. 

Josey stopped to help and took turns performing the life-saving procedure while waiting for first responders to arrive, all the while vexed by the lack of first aid equipment on site.

“I was so frustrated that there was nothing to work with,” said Josey, who spent a decade teaching CPR in a hospital. “There was no support. It felt like an eternity.”

The man survived, and Josey started writing to politicians, health officials and the local chamber of commerce, expressing the need for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in her rural community.

This year, three of the devices, which can be used in conjunction with CPR to restore a normal heartbeat, were donated by Emergency Health Services (EHS) for the Sheet Harbour area. A local electrician donated his time and supplies to install the devices, which are accessible to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Josey is among the Nova Scotians who’ve successfully pushed for the devices to be installed and accessible in every corner of the province. The number of registered AEDs shown on an online map has increased from fewer than 700 to approximately 2,200 in the past five years.

‘Big success’

“That was a big success in terms of a reactive approach,” said paramedic Mike Janczyszyn, who co-ordinates EHS’s automated external defibrillator registry. 

“It is a little bit different in terms of rural areas because you’re trying to really maximize and optimize an AED’s location.”

In 2017, a CBC News investigation found there was little public information about how many AEDs there were or where they were located. But that has changed, and an EHS communications officer can now direct a caller to a nearby AED in an emergency and explain how to use it and perform CPR.

EHS said it’s constantly installing the devices, with help from Nova Scotians who see the need for an AED somewhere and report it.

“We want the community to help out with the sudden cardiac arrest survival rates,” said Janczyszyn.

“There’s not a fine science in terms of where the next cardiac arrest is gonna happen,” he said.

Accessibility key

Scouts leader James Williams, who lives in Dartmouth, has his troop’s defibrillator on the provincial map. The device is stored in his home.

He said the defibrillator was once used to help someone in his neighbourhood. 

“It’s the scouting motto,” said Williams. “Make it available to the neighborhood if at all necessary. And it was.”

Also a first aid instructor, Williams now encourages businesses to install the devices outdoors where they can be accessible at all hours. 

Meanwhile, Josey is thankful to see some action in her rural community, something she credits to the support of the Sheet Harbour and Area Chamber of Commerce. She said there is more work to do in order to help save lives along the Eastern Shore. 

“I’m really proud of the results that have happened,” she said. “It’s only the beginning.”