Media Releases

Town registers its AEDs with the EHS Nova Scotia Volunteer AED registry

Town of Amherst buildings containing automated external defibrillators, also known as AEDs, have been registered with the EHS Nova Scotia Volunteer AED registry.

Signs notifying people that publicly accessible AEDs are available at the police station, town hall, stadium and fire station were installed on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020.

An AED is lightweight, battery-operated, portable device that checks the heart’s rhythm and sends a shock, if needed, to the heart to restore a normal rhythm. The machine is used to help people having a sudden cardiac arrest.

According the registry’s website, the goals of the program are to promote an increased quantity of AEDs throughout the province of Nova Scotia, ensure that all registered AEDs in the province are properly maintained and up to date, increase awareness that early CPR and AEDs can save a life, promote CRP and AED training and increase survival rates for sudden out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

The website also states the core function of the registry is to help improve sudden cardiac survival rates by rapidly linking AEDs, AED responders and sudden cardiac arrest patients.

The registry has a map that indicates where publicly available AEDs are available throughout the province, including Amherst. The map is located at: https://nsgi.novascotia.ca/EHS-NS-Volunteer-AED-Map/

As always, people should always call 911 during an emergency.