Defibrillator in TTC Station

August 2009

In the event of a cardiac emergency, Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) have all been installed within line of sight of Collector Booths at 30 of the TTC’s busiest subway stations.

The first unit was installed at Bloor-Yonge Station in March. Each unit is encased in appropriately labelled, glass-fronted white cabinets, 15 by 13 inches in size. A high-pitched alarm will be heard if the cabinets are opened. The AEDs and cabinets are owned and managed by the TTC’s partners at Emergency Medical Services (EMS) through a donation by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The units are part of a $3-million province-wide grant from the Ministry of Health Promotion. Funding for the $1,500 units was also provided by Transamerica Life Canada.

In 2008, there were 1,400 incidents of customers becoming ill or injured on subway trains or stations. About 900 (64 per cent) required a hospital trip.

Nearly 7,000 cardiac arrests occur yearly in Ontario, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. AEDs are used in combination with Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to help restore heart rhythm in a person who goes into cardiac arrest. When used with CPR, defibrillators can improve survival by more than 50 per cent if delivered within the first few minutes.