Summerland will receive at least one automated external defibrillator (AED) to be installed in a public place as part of a province-wide initiative to lower the instances of death from sudden cardiac arrest.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation and the B.C. Health Ministry are each contributing $2 million to the project. which will see 450 AEDs installed throughout B.C.
The current survival rate for an out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest is only about five per cent.
Evidence shows that survival rates can be increased up to 75 per cent if a defibrillator is used within five minutes.
An AED is a safe, portable device anyone can use to deliver an electric shock to restart a heart in sudden cardiac arrest.
The AED reads the heart rhythm and only delivers a shock if needed.
The program is a partnership with the BC Ambulance Service.