The Blackville Fire Department recently presented deputy mayor and rec council president Ian Fortune with a new portable AED device for the outdoor rink.

An AED, an automated external defibrillator, is a portable device that checks the heart rhythm and can send an electric shock to the heart to try to restore a normal rhythm. AEDs are used to treat sudden cardiac arrest, a condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When this happens, blood stops flowing to the brain and other vital organs.

An AED is proven to be one of the most important tools in saving the life of someone suffering sudden cardiac arrest.