The City of Weyburn received two more Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) through a donation by EnCana on Wednesday. One was installed at the Weyburn Leisure Centre and the other will be installed into the Weyburn Firefighter rural fire truck, where they will be left full-time through the year.

With these new additions to aid in assisting in cases of heart attack, the AED that was installed at the Weyburn Colosseum/Tom Zandee Sports Arena on Jan. 11 will now be able to stay year-round.

The goal of the City of Weyburn was to have one at the Colosseum and a second at the Leisure Centre; the third will benefit the community as well.

"We looked at an AED for a number of years for the rural fire truck, as the number one killer of firefighters is heart attack," said Fire Chief Denis Pilon. The AED for the rural fire truck has not arrived yet, as the demand for the AEDs have tied up shipping, but it is expected to arrive in the next month.

Twila Walkeden, community relations manager for EnCana, said that it "is part of EnCana's mandate to take the issues of health and wellness very seriously." When Walkeden contacted the Weyburn Fire Department in regards to giving back to the community, Deputy Fire Chief Morley Forsgren and her discussed the details.

"Originally they were going to purchase only one, but as the price went down since we received the original one from Prairie Agencies, EnCana generously purchased two," said Forsgren.

Trained responders have effectively used AEDs in many public settings and when an elderly gentleman collapsed at the Regina Airport, local Heather Gordon had her first experience using an AED in an emergency setting.

Gordon is a production technician for EnCana who has been trained by her company to be a first responder, which includes how to use an AED as well as the rescue breathing and CPR that are crucial in the first few moments of Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

"The nice thing about the AED is that it assesses the heart rhythm to see if a shock is advised, then a prompt will verbally tell the responder on how to respond either by administering a shock or to continue CPR," she said.

To date several full-time and part-time employees of both the Colosseum/Sports Arena and the Leisure Centre have been trained to use the AED, as have the Weyburn Firefighters, so they can respond to a heart attack if it occurs. AEDs are also compatible with the defibrillators used by the Sun Country Health Region so that when the EMS show up on the scenes they can transfer over the pads to their own machines.

It is a four-hour training course to use the AED, which uses a video format to give the students more hand-on experience; this course is retaken every year so that responders are kept up to standards. AED training is becoming more and more popular and taking a CPR course from the Heart and Stroke Foundation can certify any person in using the AED.

Businesses, social clubs and services organizations who are interested in purchasing an AED for their facility, or to donate to the City of Weyburn, are asked to contact the Weyburn Firefighters for more information. This will ensure that all AEDs are standardized across the city to meet with the standards used by the Sun Country Health Region.