HeartSafe EMS Inc.

10/02/2026

❤️ October is Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month. For us, it’s personal.

Our founder, Glenn Burke, spent decades as a paramedic and educator teaching people how to act in an emergency. Six years ago this month, he became the patient.

Glenn had a sudden cardiac arrest at home. His wife and daughter called 9-1-1 right away. Paramedics and firefighters resuscitated him with CPR and defibrillation.

Only 1 in 10 people survive a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital. Glenn is one of them, because the people around him acted fast.

The mission came first. Then it became personal.

Is your workplace Rescue Ready? ✅
🟢 People trained in CPR
🟢 An AED they can reach
🟢 Pads, battery and inspection up to date

👉 Book CPR/AED training this month: heartsafe.ca



❤️ Octobre est le Mois de la sensibilisation à l’arrêt cardiaque soudain. Pour nous, c’est personnel.

Notre fondateur, Glenn Burke, a passé des décennies comme paramédic et formateur à enseigner comment agir en cas d’urgence. Il y a six ans ce mois-ci, c’est lui qui est devenu le patient.

Glenn a subi un arrêt cardiaque soudain à la maison. Sa femme et sa fille ont appelé le 9-1-1 sans attendre. Les paramédics et les pompiers l’ont réanimé grâce à la RCR et à la défibrillation.

Seulement 1 personne sur 10 survit à un arrêt cardiaque à l’extérieur de l’hôpital. Glenn en fait partie, parce que les gens autour de lui ont agi rapidement.

La mission est venue en premier. Puis elle est devenue personnelle.

Votre milieu de travail est-il Rescue Ready? ✅
🟢 Des personnes formées en RCR
🟢 Un DEA accessible
🟢 Électrodes, pile et inspection à jour

👉 Réservez une formation RCR/DEA ce mois-ci : heartsafe.ca

09/24/2026

**The most important person in a cardiac arrest may be the person standing beside the victim.**

A coworker.
A neighbour.
A teacher.
A golf-course employee.
A security guard.
A family member.

Because when cardiac arrest happens, the first few minutes belong to the people already there.

And where the emergency happens can make a huge difference.

Think about:

A worker collapsing deep inside a warehouse.

A golfer going down on the far side of an 18-hole course.

Someone collapsing on an upper floor of a high-rise.

A person on a trail, farm, industrial site or remote property.

Even in a city, emergency response time is not just the time it takes an ambulance to reach the address.

Responders may still have to get through traffic, security doors, elevators, long hallways or large facilities before they actually reach the patient.

High-rises are a good example.

**A Toronto-area study found survival after cardiac arrest fell from 4.2% below the third floor to 2.6% on the third floor or higher. Above the 16th floor, survival was less than 1%.**

In other words, the ambulance may have arrived at the building—but the patient can still be several critical minutes away.

That’s why proximity to emergency services is not the same as immediate care.

And proximity to an AED is not always the same as readiness either.

The AED may be:

• Several floors away
• Inside a locked building
• At the opposite end of the property
• Unavailable after hours
• Unknown to the people standing nearby

So every workplace, building and community should ask:

**If someone collapsed here right now, what could the person beside them actually do in the next three minutes?**

Can they recognize cardiac arrest?
Will they call 911?
Will they start CPR?
Do they know where the AED is?
Can they get it quickly?
Will they have the confidence to act?

Because survival often begins before professional responders ever reach the patient.

**The most important person may already be there.**

Prepare them.
Equip them.
Give them the confidence to act.

09/15/2026

09/13/2026

**Who checks your AED when nobody is thinking about cardiac arrest?**

It’s an important question.

An AED can sit untouched for months or even years.

During that time:

Pads can expire.
Batteries can age.
Cabinets can get blocked.
Staff can change.
Inspection routines can get missed.

From the outside, everything may still look fine.

The AED is on the wall.
The sign is visible.
The cabinet is there.

But is it actually ready?

At HeartSafe, we talk about the **Three Greens**:

🟢 Pads current
🟢 Battery current
🟢 AED ready

Simple checks, but they answer one very important question:

**If someone collapses today, is your AED actually ready to help?**

Every AED program should have:

✔️ A clear person responsible
✔️ A regular inspection process
✔️ A way to track expiry dates and readiness
✔️ People onsite who know where the AED is and what to do

Because the worst time to discover a problem is during the emergency.

**Readiness is what happens when nobody is thinking about cardiac arrest.**

08/31/2026

Caledon: sign up online for HeartSafe EMS’s public Intermediate First Aid & CPR-C class.

Monday, September 21, 2026 • 8:30 AM–4:30 PM  
Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness — Training Room  
WSIB-approved • $150

Sign up on the website: heartsafe.ca

Local. Trusted. 30 years in business. 25 years in Caledon. SCA survivor & first responder led.


Caledon : inscrivez-vous en ligne au cours de premiers soins de HeartSafe EMS, ouvert au public.

Premiers soins intermédiaires et RCR de niveau C  
Lundi 21 septembre 2026 • de 8 h 30 à 16 h 30  
Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness — Training Room  
Approuvé par la WSIB • 150 $

Inscrivez-vous sur le site Web : heartsafe.ca

D’ici. De confiance. 30 ans en affaires. 25 ans à Caledon.

08/30/2026

**The first few minutes don’t belong to EMS.
They belong to the people already there.**

That’s why workplace emergency readiness needs to be about more than simply having equipment on the wall.

Think about three emergencies that can become life-threatening very quickly:

❤️ **Sudden Cardiac Arrest**
About **60,000 cardiac arrests happen in Canada every year**, including an estimated **20,000–24,000 in Ontario**.

💊 **Opioid Overdose**
Ontario recorded approximately **16,000 opioid-related deaths between 2018 and 2024**, with significant impact in some workforce sectors.

🩸 **Severe Bleeding / Workplace Trauma**
Ontario sees thousands of critical workplace injuries every year. When severe bleeding is involved, someone can deteriorate within minutes.

In each case, professional help may already be on the way.

But someone onsite may need to act first.

That’s why it may be time to think beyond the traditional AED cabinet.

For many workplaces, a more complete emergency-readiness station could include:

**AED | Naloxone | Trauma First Aid**

But the equipment is only part of the solution.

People need to know:

✔️ Where it is
✔️ What it is for
✔️ How to use it
✔️ And have the confidence to step forward

Because simply hanging lifesaving equipment on the wall does not automatically create readiness.

**Equipment. Training. Confidence. Action.**

That’s true workplace emergency readiness.

**The first few minutes don’t belong to EMS.
They belong to the people already there.**

08/17/2026

**“Don't worry—you don't need training to use an AED.”**

We've all heard some version of that message.

And technically, it's true.

AEDs are designed so that an untrained person can turn one on, listen to the instructions and potentially save a life.

That's an incredible safety feature.

But it doesn't mean training doesn't matter.

Imagine finding a coworker, family member or customer suddenly collapsed.

Before that AED ever delivers a shock, someone has to recognize what's happening, call 911, start CPR, find the AED, open the person's clothing, place the pads correctly and keep going while everyone around them is under stress.

That's where confidence matters.

Recent research continues to associate CPR/AED training with greater willingness to help, greater AED use and improved community response. Research also tells us that CPR skills fade—which is why short, regular refreshers matter.

Buying an AED is important.

But simply hanging one on the wall isn't a complete cardiac emergency program.

**The AED needs to be ready.
And so do the people around it.**

Practice today.
Confidence tomorrow.
Action when it matters.

08/07/2026

**The AED Is Only One Part of Cardiac Readiness**

An AED should not be treated like a simple product purchase.

It should be treated as part of a life-safety system.

We do not install smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, emergency lighting, or evacuation plans simply because they are the cheapest option.

We expect them to be visible, accessible, maintained, understood, and ready when needed.

An AED should be viewed the same way.

The device matters.

But so does the system around it:

Site risk assessment.
AED placement planning.
Clear signage and visibility.
Inspection and expiry tracking.
CPR and First Aid training.
Employee confidence.
Responder awareness.
Annual program review.

The AED is only one component of a much larger solution.

The real question is not simply:

Do we have an AED?
It is:
Will it be ready, accessible, and used when someone collapse?

The goal is not AED ownership.

The goal is cardiac readiness.

And ultimately, the goal is survival.

07/13/2026

**Proximity Is Not Readiness**

The central issue is not simply whether an AED is located nearby.

An AED can be within walking distance and still fail to become part of the rescue if it is:

• inside a locked or closed building
• difficult to see or locate
• unknown to neighbours
• unregistered
• expired or not inspected
• inaccessible after hours
• too difficult to retrieve quickly
• unsupported by people who feel confident enough to act

**Proximity is only one part of readiness.**

True readiness means the AED is:

**Visible. Accessible 24/7. Secure. Registered. Maintained. Current.**

It also means people understand the Chain of Survival and feel prepared to act.

Someone still has to recognize the cardiac arrest, call 911, begin CPR, retrieve the AED and use it during the first critical minutes.

The real question is not:

**“Is there an AED nearby?”**

It is:

**“Can someone see it, reach it, trust it and use it within minutes?”**

**AED nearby → Can anyone see it? → Can anyone reach it? → Is it ready? → Will someone act?**

We need to move from AED placement to true readiness.

06/30/2026

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/glenn-burke-5a43b11b_aed-cpr-cardiacarrest-activity-7473536136200577024-CwR9?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAQm2QwBQl0tGzjzK_Rr_18KjNFlzcViDQU

One of the biggest myths about AEDs is that having one nearby is enough. It is not. I know this personally. I am a cardiac arrest survivor. When I suffered a major heart attack and cardiac arrest, I was lucky — but I was not saved by luck alone. The distress of a heart attack was recognized. 911 w...