Heated AED case installed in Lighthouse Cove aims to improve cardiac emergency response

Training at Lighthouse Cove on a first of its kind outdoor AED. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell has details.

A new life-saving device now stands in Lighthouse Cove in Lakeshore, and local residents and first responders say it could make all the difference in a medical emergency.

The community unveiled southern Ontario’s first heated outdoor defibrillator case Wednesday during a public training session led by Essex-Windsor EMS. The weather-protected cabinet houses an automated external defibrillator (AED) and is designed to alert emergency services the moment it’s opened — even before a 911 call is placed.

Dave Thibodeau, a public access defibrillator program coordinator with Essex-Windsor EMS, said the unit is the first of its kind in the region.

“95 per cent of the defibrillators in Windsor-Essex County that are registered get locked up when the business closes every day at five, six o’clock. They’re not accessible in the evening hours. This one here is, and it’s the very first one of its kind in the region,” he explained.

“They’ll all be equipped in that particular case. It’s heated in the winter. There’s a thermostat and it’s illuminated 24/7. An audible alarm on the case is accessed. It’s the latest and one of the best on the market.”

Thibodeau said public access defibrillators are essential tools in treating cardiac arrest — but they’re not used as often as they should be.

“Time is everything with cardiac arrest,” he said. “If a defibrillator is supplied within the first 60 seconds, chances of survival increase by 90 per cent. So we want people to start using them.”

Last year, Essex-Windsor paramedics responded to more than 800 cardiac arrest calls.

“Only five public defibrillators were accessed out of those 800,” Thibodeau said. “So there’s room for improvement.”

There are approximately 2,000 AEDs across Windsor, Essex County and Pelee Island, but only 1,300 are currently registered with 911 dispatch.

Thibodeau said about 20 to 23 additional outdoor AED units — including a few on Pelee Island — are expected to be installed in the coming months.

“I’m excited about it. I’ve been a proponent for public defibrillators for 20 years. I’ve been teaching these sessions, and I’m very, very excited about it,” he said.

The Lighthouse Cove unit was installed with the help of the local Lions Club, which organized training and raised funds.

“We actually fundraised to purchase and install this defibrillator and case by using people’s returned beer cans,” said Larissa Vogler, a Lakeshore municipal councillor and Lions Club member. “So, we are a fun community. Our community members enjoy themselves. And so we have reaped the fruits of that enjoyment with those cans.”

Vogler said getting the AED to Lighthouse Cove was a grassroots effort, prompted by the area’s slower-than-average EMS response times.

“We’ve been working really hard to see this happen here in Lighthouse Cove. We have some of the slowest response times for emergency services in all of Essex County, because of course we’re here just tucked away in the very, very corner of the county. So this can potentially save lives.”

She added: “There’s an opportunity for residents to take action themselves when it comes to saving a life or preventing an emergency or preventing a disaster. So having a defibrillator, having it in a heated outdoor case where it’s accessible 24/7 to all members of the community at all times, we think it’s really important, and we’re really proud of ourselves for having made this happen.”

For Mark Hacon, a Lighthouse Cove resident and Lions Club volunteer, the training and installation are both personal and practical.

“This is really, really enlightening,” Hacon told CTV News. “We’re a small community with a lot of retired people. Older people. And we need this kind of training.”

Hacon knows first-hand how long emergency response can take in the area.

“My mother-in-law, we had to call an ambulance for her one time, and the ambulance actually came from Chatham, and it was still 15 to 20 minutes before it got here.”

“We see ambulances coming in here in the Lighthouse Cove all the time, in and out, in and out. And hopefully with some of this training it’ll save some of the people that are on the edge around here.”

“It’s a great thing. Absolutely. I think it should be almost mandatory for groups to have this done,” he added.

Residents and visitors can now find the defibrillator located outside the Lighthouse Variety entrance, registered with Essex-Windsor EMS and visible on emergency apps such as PulsePoint.