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AED machines to be installed in final set of London-area schools five years after teen's death

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More than five years after her 15-year-old son died on an Oxford County soccer field, Cara Schmidt’s push to see every local school outfitted with an automatic defibrillator has finally come to a close.

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The Thames Valley District school board approved funding to install 42 AED machines in the remaining London and area schools without one of these life saving machines, the last hurdle to ensure each one of the area’s 167 schools has one on site.

“It was a community effort and so incredible to see,” said Schmidt, mother to Andrew Stoddart.

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Andrew died on a Kintore soccer field on May 11, 2015, of a sudden cardiac arrest. It was then they realized there was no automatic external defibrillator – a portable machine used to identify, correct and restart heart rhythms – nearby. The next day, Schmidt said she founded Andrew’s Legacy, an organization dedicated to raising awareness and money to place AED machines in public places where people congregate, including schools. 

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“We realized there was a need to have AEDs on site where kids and parents and families are. If this device was readily available, Andrew might still be with us today,” Schmidt said. “It needed to be taken care of.”

After plenty of education and policy changes, the Thames Valley District school board approved placing the device in schools, but wasn’t prepared to fund them. Money had to come from outside the board, Schmidt said. So she, her husband Dennis and sister Krista got to work.

To date, they’ve placed 55 AED machines in the five years since Andrew died, Schmidt said.

Over the years, other organizations have picked up the fight, including the Dad Club of London. Schools have also held fundraisers to pay for their own machines, which each cost about $2,000.

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Jake Skinner, a Thames Valley District school board trustee, said he had been pushing to bring AED machines into school for years, ever since he met Schmidt at a board meeting where she spoke about the issue. 

Now, he said he’s gratified the machines can be introduced in the 2019-20 budget through credits the board receives from the Ontario School Boards’ Insurance Exchange. 

“I am thrilled about the whole thing, for Cara and the community. If you think about the worth of a life compared to the cost of equipping our schools, there’s no comparison,” Skinner said. “It does not make sense to have the board five per cent protected, or 50 per cent protected. We needed schools fully protected.”

Just this week, Schmidt said she delivered the final three AED machines needed for every school in Oxford County. In total, they’ve raised money for 55 machines through baseball and volleyball tournaments, meet and greets and other events, including nearly $10,000 raised through last year’s Smile Cookie campaign at the Thamesford Tim Hortons. 

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Schmidt said that seeing the last AED machines approved for schools was “bittersweet,” but the culmination of all she’d worked for with Andrew’s Legacy.

“As Andrew’s mom, to know our schools  are protected if this were to happen again, is incredible. No family should have to lose a child because the equipment is not there. It’s really nice to see I wasn’t just a mom who wanted to change because of me,” Schmidt said.

“It means Andrew’s life has meaning.”

Now, Schmidt said Andrew’s Legacy will pivot to education and awareness about how to use the machines, and continue to advocate their location in all public places. Schmidt said she was thrilled with Ontario Bill 141, which requires defibrillators to be registered and accessible in public places.

“(The next step is) education and awareness of where they are. If they’re just sitting on a wall and no one knows how to use it, it’s not good. We are working with splash pads, parks, baseball fields, parks, so we can keep doing what we’re doing.”

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