Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Strategies for your League

Share in the Knowledge - not in the Tragedy

PACED, Parents Advocating for Cardiac Education, is hopeful that 2015 will be a watershed year for heart arrhythmia awareness and sudden cardiac arrest prevention in Canada. A little basic knowledge of heart arrhythmia diseases and their warning signs can go a long way to reducing the toll that sudden cardiac arrest takes on our children and families. Many of the young athletes that die each year exhibit warning signs in the days weeks or months prior to their death. PACED would like the opportunity to speak to the executive, coaches, trainers and parents of your minor sport organization and share simple strategies that can protect young athletes.

If your organization is based in southern Ontario, from London to Barrie to Oshawa to Niagara Falls, PACED will be happy to come out to an upcoming meeting and deliver a brief but comprehensive overview of Inherited Heart Rhythm Disorders that addresses the critical questions:

·        What is an Inherited Heart Rhythm Disorder (IHRD)?

o   Are there other diseases that can cause a child to experience sudden cardiac arrest?

·        What are the warning signs of an IHRD?

·      How should our organization and parents respond when warning signs are observed?

·        Is there value in a “return to play” policy for athletes that have exhibited warning signs?

·        Are there pre-participation screening tools for IHRD?

·        What is the role of genetics in the recognition and management of an IHRD?

·        There is an AED (Defibrillator) at the arena; won’t that prevent sudden cardiac arrest?

·        What happens after a positive diagnosis for an IHRD?

PACED works closely with Paediatric Cardiologists from across Canada to ensure that our message is accurate and current. The evidence based recommendations that we share are already being implemented by sport organizations across the United States and Europe. To date 13 US States have legislation passed or pending that make sudden cardiac arrest prevention programs mandatory for school and community sport organizations.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the leading cause of young person deaths that occur during participation is sport and play. There have been a least eight on ice deaths over the last nine years of Canadian minor hockey players. In Ontario 200 young people die suddenly of cardiac causes each year - not all of these deaths occur during participation in sport. Building communities that are more sensitive and responsive to the warning signs of potential heart arrhythmia will go a long way to reducing these numbers and the only cost is the time it takes to learn the facts.

It takes 45 minutes to acquire the tools to prevent the Sudden Cardiac Death of an Athlete

Every time a young athlete dies it is a tragedy.  When that child exhibited known warning signs of heart arrhythmia in the weeks or months prior to their death and no one picked up on those signals the tragedy is deepened. PACED is asking for 45 minutes of your group's time to help you start building the safety nets that will prevent these tragedies.

The knowledge that PACED has shared with the  Ontario sports community has already led to several children being correctly diagnosed with an IHRD and receiving the treatment that they need to lead a long and productive life. Please pick up the phone or send an e-mail inviting PACED to come and present at an upcoming league meeting.

Blake Hurst, Co-Founder of PACED may be reached at (905) 527-0462 or

info@paced.ca