In a move that could very well save lives, AEDs, or automated external defibrillators, have been installed along the busy Grouse Grind hiking trail in North Vancouver.
The three devices went up last week at the quarter, halfway and three-quarter marks along the route.
Tyler Langeloo, supervisor of park operations at Metro Vancouver, told CTV News the decision to install the equipment came from conversations with firefighters and search and rescue volunteers who respond to medical incidents on the trail.
Dubbed “mother nature’s Stairmaster,” the Grind is popular with locals and tourists alike. More than 100,000 hikers take on the steep climb every year, according to Grouse Mountain.
“We certainly have had incidents of people with cardiac arrest on the Grouse Grind in the past. So this is really more of us trying to be proactive,” he said.
The AEDs are attached to trees inside a water-proof box. The devices …