Perth County Paramedics Receive Generous AED Donation

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PERTH COUNTY, ON – Perth County Paramedic Services was honoured to receive a generous donation of 3 Automated External Defibrillators (AED) from Kickstart My Heart earlier this year. The donated AED’s will become part of Perth County’s regional Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) program which places and monitors AED’s in publicly accessible locations across Perth County.

Kickstart My Heart is a charitable organization formed in 2024 by the Otto Family to raise money for public defibrillators. The idea was sparked after an AED was used to save the then 18-year old Cole Otto’s life during a cardiac event at the Mitchell Baseball Diamonds in 2023.

“After the incident with Cole, we felt compelled to take action to ensure more people can benefit from access to life-saving AEDs.” said the Otto family. “It was important to us to make a positive impact out of a frightening experience that could have ended much differently had an AED not been available.”

“We are grateful for this generous donation into our Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) program.” said Mike Adair, Chief of Paramedic Services. “It is our goal through the PAD program to make these life-saving devices readily available across the region.”

Future plans for the PAD program include modernization of the program and the creation of a digital map for community members to be able to readily locate these devices in the community.

About AEDs in Perth County:

• Through the County’s PAD program AEDs are currently placed at 94 locations across Perth County
• The Paramedic Services team is currently in the process of a program modernization to allow improved public awareness and accessibility of AEDs
• Perth County Paramedic Services offers an AED loaner program for special events. More information can be found here: www.perthcounty.ca/en/living-here/public-access-defibrillator.aspx

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About Perth County:

Perth County is a vibrant upper-tier municipality located in Southwestern Ontario and is home to a regional population of 81,565 residents. This rural region is comprised of 4 lower-tier member municipalities. To find out more information about our services, visit www.perthcounty.ca or follow us on Facebook and X.

About Kickstart My Heart:

This first annual "Kickstart my Heart" golf tournament was held in September 2024 raising awareness and funds to purchase lifesaving AED's for local communities. In 2024, the organization raised over $8,000.00. This tournament was started by the Otto family after an AED was used to save Cole Otto’s life in May of 2023 after he suffered a cardiac arrest at the Mitchell ball diamonds. For more information, contact: kickstartmyheartgolf@gmail.com

Media Contact:
Sarah Franklin
Communications Officer, Perth County
sfranklin@perthcounty.ca
519-271-0531 ext 151