Cardiac arrest survival rate tops in Ottawa

If you're going to have a heart attack in Ontario, your chance of surviving such an occurrence outside of the hospital is best in Ottawa, says the city's top paramedic Anthony DiMonte. "We're over 12 per cent, we're more than double the Ontario average," said DiMonte during a presentation to city hall Thursday. "From being one of the worst communities to have a cardiac arrest in, you're now sitting in a community that's probably one of the best." Before the city began installing defibrillators in its public recreation centres, the chances of surviving a heart attack before paramedics arrived was just two per cent. But now there are more than 800 automated external defibrillators in the city