Oshawa’s PulsePoint partners welcomed over 80 members of the community to Durham College (DC) on June 22 to learn CPR and other life-saving skills.

Student volunteers from the DC/Ontario Tech University Campus Emergency Response Team (CERT) led the training, sharing their expertise on how to properly perform CPR as well as how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED). They also touched on important topics like naloxone, epinephrine, and infant and child CPR.

As a partner in the PulsePoint initiative (which also includes Oshawa Fire Services, General Motors, Ontario Tech University, Lakeridge Health and the Durham Region Critical Incident Stress Support Team), DC was an ideal host for the event.

“At Durham College, we care about the health and well-being of our campus and broader community and we are committed to providing teaching and learning opportunities that support that,” said Don Lovisa, president, Durham College. “As a leader in technology-enhanced solutions, we are proud to join the PulsePoint partners on this initiative to offer life-saving CPR technology.”

The event provided essential training while promoting the PulsePoint mobile apps that are free to download in Oshawa and the surrounding area (Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge).

The PulsePoint Respond app alerts users when someone nearby is in need of CPR, and locates the nearest AED. The Pulsepoint AED app includes a registry of potentially life-saving tools like AEDs, bleeding control kits, naloxone and epinephrine.

Giving people the skills, knowledge and equipment to make a difference in life-threatening scenarios is critical according to Thomas Bezruki, manager, Emergency Management for DC and Ontario Tech.

“CPR and AED can save lives. This public awareness and education event can help save someone’s life in an emergency,” he said. “When a person is suffering a sudden cardiac arrest event, CPR before professional help arrives gives the best chance of survival.”

For more information on the PulsePoint apps, visit this website.