The Mikey Network partners with Toronto Catholic District School Board

[caption id="attachment_46920" align="alignnone" width="700"] All 202 schools and various facilities of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) now have defibrillators installed. Participants at a recent partnership announcement with The Mikey Network at St. Lawrence Catholic School in Scarborough, are, left to right: Mikey Network’s Eva Naumovski; Mikey Network Chairman Hugh Heron; TCDSB Trustee Michael Del Grande; TCDSB Associate Director of Business Services & CFO Lloyd Norongha; Khaled Elgharbawy; Stacey Coray; Veronica Olmedo; Yoliana Azer, Superintendent Peter Aguiar[/caption]The Toronto Catholic District School Board is taking the important step of equipping all 202 of its facilities with automated external defibrillators. The AEDs, as they are known, are potentially lifesaving devices and are supplied by The Mikey Network.

“We appreciate the feedback provided by parents, staff, students and other community members regarding AEDs and we continue to look for opportunities that help us ensure the safety and well-being of all our staff and students, which is always our number one priority,” says TCDSB Chair Maria Rizzo. “Through this partnership with The Mikey Network, we have successfully achieved ourgoal of having every school site equipped with an AED by the end of 2019, ahead of schedule.”“Today marks an important moment, aimed at putting a spotlight on the challenge that people living with rare, congenital heart conditions face on a daily basis, as well as the emotional toll it takes on their loved ones,” adds TCDSB Vice-Chair Michael Del Grande. “Events like this give us anopportunity to come together as a Catholic community to show our support to those vulnerable toincidents of sudden cardiac arrest and to show them that there is help."In December 2018, the TCDSB board approved the allocation of about $210,000 to fund the purchase of the AEDs. Staff received CPR and AED training over the 2019 March Break. The Board also arranged first aid courses during the 2018-19 school year, so a minimum of two staff members per school are trained in standard first aid, CPR and AED use. Most schools already have more than two certified first aiders.