By Cheryl Jahn

Bond sends AED to Guatemala

Aug 19, 2022 | 2:59 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond stood side-by-side with Team Rubicon member Cristian Silva, with an Automated External Defibrillator in hand. That small piece of life-saving equipment is heading to a land far, far away.

“Recently I learned about the incredible work Cristian has been doing with Team Rubicon in Guatemala,” explains Bond. “And while his work with Team Rubicon there is finished, Cristian is going back to Guatemala on his own. And one of the things he talked to me about was the need for medical equipment in small medical clinics in Guatemala.”

The special automated external defibrillator is going to a remote location in the very North end of Guatemala, more than 400 kilometres North of Guatemala City.

“We’re going to be working in the Department of Peten,” explains Silva. “Which is 480 kilometres northeast of the capital. Our goal is to provide continued help to the communities we visited this summer. They need the help right now. They’re quite isolated.”

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Team Rubicon has been to the region already and became aware of the health care needs in a medical clinic there.

“So we bring the doctors, nurses, paramedics and we train the local communities how to use some of the equipment. Yes, they are in the global south but equipment like this is hard to come by. But there are people who are quite skilled. So what we’re doing now is supporting them.”

And an event like this one made it happen. Shirley Bond’s team for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Big Bike ride earned her the right to choose locations for donating AEDs. To date, the specialized equipment has been donated to the Royal Canadian Legion locally, a local seniors centre, and the gymnastics club. This is the first to go so far.

And, on a happier note, an AED donated to the City by Bond and her family, the one that was recently stolen from Masich Place Stadium, has been found.

“I was working in the Robson Valley, working, and we got a phone call that a very kind person found the AED. It was still blinking, it was in great shape, and returned it. The City will be looking at how that continues to serve the people of Prince George. So, went from heartbreak to relief.”

Silva will be heading to Guatemala in two weeks to deliver not only the much-needed defibrillator but other health care equipment as well.