The National Film Board is buying 4 defibrillators for its Montreal headquarters after the death of an employee. The man who worked in film colorization experienced a cardiac episode and collapsed near the coffee machine at work.
According to the union, when a colleague called 911, the dispatcher asked if there was a defibrillator nearby. There were none available on the premises.
Importance of defibrillators
The employees have been requesting for more than 4 hours for access to a defibrillator according to Chantal Bourgeois, union adviser for the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The worker died despite the efforts of his colleagues.
According to Lily Robert, director of communications and public affairs at the NFB, the request was confirmed but it was turned down. The request of the union were turned down since the machines are not mandatory. She added that there are 12 people trained in first aid at the office and the building is in a central location not far from several healthcare facilities.
After the death of the man, the NFB conducted research on the devices. With the information gathered, they missed out on a lot of information on the importance of the device.
According to Robert, they will purchase machines in the coming weeks and there will be one defibrillator in every floor once the NFB moves to its new building downtown next year.
For more information about this story, click here.
LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a CPR and AED course and for more information, check out these sources:
https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/cpr-new-defibrilators#1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillator
https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-cpr/basics/art-20056600