Kickstart your day by pulling a bus
Published Thursday November 19th, 2009
Bus Pull Challenge to raise money for defibrillators in Saint John schools.
There's nothing like pulling a city bus along Charlotte Street to get your day going right.
Just ask the guys at Saint John's newest gym, Crossfit, and Terry Wagner, Corporate Relations Manager at the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Better yet, find out for yourself either as a member of a team or as part of the wildly cheering crowd, on Sunday Nov. 29.
Starting at 11 a.m., the first annual Heart and Stroke Bus Pull Challenge will pit team against team in a two-pronged contest of hauling busses for 100 feet and raising money to put Automated External Defibrillators in Saint John area high schools. To make things a little more exciting, and to inspire participants, a crew from Crossfit will be kicking things off near the City Market at around 10:30 a.m. by pulling a bus up the hill on King Street.
Crossfit owner Michael Jackson approached Terry a few months ago, wanting to make a fundraising event for the Heart and Stroke Foundation a part of the launch of his new business. Together the pair came up with the Bus Pull, the proceeds of which will fold into the Restart a Heart-Restart a Life campaign, which has already placed 85 AED's in public place around the province.
What's the big deal about having AED's scattered around the province, and in Saint John high schools in particular? To many people the word defibrillator conjures up television shows and somebody yelling "clear!" just before a patient's chest is zapped with electricity. Why have pieces of equipment lying around that only experts can use?
"The units we're talking about are about the size of a hardcover book, and anybody can use one, because there are voice prompts for every step you need to take when you use them. Not just that, but the unit determines whether a shock should actually be administered, by detecting whether there's a shockable rhythm there or not. So if the paddles are placed on some one's chest by mistake the machine won't administer a shock."
These AED's could be called Defibrillators for Dummies. Not only do the voice prompts take you through how to use the devices, but there's also a button you can press to get instructions on how to perform CPR. The goal of the Restart a Heart initiative is to help improve the survival rate of sudden cardiac arrests in New Brunswick. Having AED's in as many places where the public gathers, on hand for immediate use, is an important step in meeting that goal.
"Research has shown that using CPR in the first few minutes after a person suffers cardiac arrest improves the chances of survival by about five per cent," says Tery. "That rises to over 50 per cent when a defibrillator is used in those first crucial minutes. The more AED's that are made available, the more lives are saved."
If you want to be a part of the Bus Pull, part of getting AED's into Saint John high schools where so many public activities take place, it's easy. Maybe your place of work wants to get a team together, or maybe your neighbourhood, school or social group. Teams will be made up of 10 people each, and as the public pull is along flat ground, you don't have to be in especially good shape to be on a team.
It doesn't cost anything to sign a team up, but each team member is expected to collect pledges amounting to a minimum of $50. Once you've organized your team, just call Terry at 634-2055 ext 2065, or e-mail him at twager@hsf.nb.ca. And give your team an edge by getting yourself some bus sitters to load onto your opponent's bus to make their bus heavier. Bus sitters pay only a minimum of the standard transit bus fare of $2.50. You can register a team up until Friday Nov. 27.
Saint John Transit is supplying buses and drivers for this hugely entertaining and worthwhile event. There will be light refreshments available, and after the last race two winning teams will be honoured for their success. One first prize place will be awarded to the team which has raised the most money for the Start a Heart Bus Pull, and another to the team which moved its bus across the 100-foot stretch of Charlotte Street in the shortest time.
If the Saint John event is a success the Bus Pull for AED's may find its way to other centres around the province in the near future. At this point, events such as this and corporate sponsors are the sole source of funds in the campaign to make AED's available in New Brunswick's public places; government funding is not involved. That makes every team in the Bus Pull, and every member of every team, very important.
Come out, pull a bus, ride a bus, cheer for your favourite bus, whatever, but do something to help defibrillators save lives on the 29th.
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