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From the Journal Pioneer Aug 10, 2006



Fund to speed up cardiac emergency response on P.E.I.
By Patricia Roy


Having defibrillators in places like golf courses and people trained in how to use them may save lives.

That's the intent of a new endowment fund launched recently at the Summerside Golf and Country Club.

The Community Foundation of P.E.I. is responsible for the David A. MacKay Endowment Fund, which was established by MacKay's family.

David Arthur MacKay went into cardiac stress on a golf course in 2002, and died within 10 minutes of arriving at the O'Leary Hospital.

"There was no doctor at the hospital at the time and the nurse didn't have the training to insert a needle into the heart," explained his daughter, Debbie (MacKay) Grubbe before the presentation, "so he passed away very quickly."

Kay Lewis, health care planner, said the endowment fund is an opportunity for the health community to move forward and look at how responses to cardiac emergencies can be improved.

Lewis said it's challenging to fund the care programs already in existence in the province.

"And sometimes it's not easy to look at innovative ways and new ideas and move forward. This is one of those opportunities that we think can really make a difference for the citizens of P.E.I." Besides friends and family members, a number of health professionals were and politicians in attendance at the launch as were many people from the Island potato farming community. MacKay operated a potato brokerage business in Toronto.

Grubbe said both her parents were from the Island; her mother from Tryon and her father from Albany.

"They married quite young and moved to Toronto. Although they built their home and lived and worked in Toronto, it was related to the Island because he was a potato broker. So he bought and sold P.E.I. potatoes."

Grubbe said the family spent every summer on the Island while she and her sisters were growing up and they continue to be Island summer residents to this day.

"This is home base and it will remain a very special place for us always".