SUDBURY -- Northern Ontario residents recently had the chance to give their thoughts on a bill tabled by Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas about creating a registry for all automated external defibrillators in the province.
Gelinas brought the bill forward late last year. It calls for the registry of all devices that are meant to help those experiencing sudden cardiac arrests.
On Jan. 29, the province's standing committee for social policy held a public hearing at Sudbury’s Radisson Hotel for residents of northeastern Ontario.
The meeting was attended by many local constituents, some coming as far as Temiskaming Shores, who had reached out to Gelinas for additional support for AED’s.
Gelinas is hopeful the bill continues to move forward.
She says under her plan, 9-1-1 operators would be able to quickly guide people to the nearest automatic defibrillator device in the case of a medical emergency.
"Make sure that everywhere there’s an AED, it’s part of a registry, and the registry would be available to every 9-1-1 call takers; so that if you call in a moment of distress, you forgot because you just saw somebody collapse, the 9-1-1 operator will be able to guide you through and you may save somebody’s life," said Gelinas. "Some of the stories they share are stories that don’t end up well unfortunately but we have an opportunity to change this by passing new laws that would make little changes, but little changes that could change people’s lives."
Further consultations are expected to be held when MPP’s head back to Toronto in later in February.
