Committed to our community

May 31st marked the first community education session under the auspices of the Leaside Gardens Safety Committee. The free CPR, AED and Choking response clinic was attended by a full house of 80 participants. Made possible through a donation from the Dr. Tom Pashby Sport Safety Fund, the session saw Panno Medical’s front line paramedics put the enthusiastic group through the paces of these critical life-saving techniques.

The gathering also gave the Gardens board the opportunity to publicly thank The Mikey Network (dedicated to placing defibrillators in locations across the province), Executive Director Morty Henkle, and the Daiter family for their donation of four defibrillators to the facility.

The Mikey Network is also committed to teaching people how to use defibrillators, so cardiac arrest victims may have a second chance at life. This gives Leaside Gardens an unprecedented six defibrillators strategically located around the facility and all marked with highly visible red signs and the Mikey logo.

The safety committee will be following up this successful clinic with another no-cost seminar on September 27th focusing on concussions. Our guest speaker that evening will be noted concussion expert Dr. Michael Hutchison, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Hutchison holds a PhD in Rehabilitation Science and is a registered kinesiologist who specializes in sport-related concussion research in various populations, including adolescent students, university level students, and professional athletes. He has published widely and presented internationally in the area of sport concussion. Pre-registration is required; details will be available soon.

New electronic sign

The new electronic sign became operational in May. We are particularly excited about the community notice portion of this sign that faces north up Laird Drive and is visible to traffic coming south to the Gardens. We are making this screen available at no charge to not-for-profit community groups in Leaside, Thorncliffe and surrounding neighbourhoods. Schools, libraries, youth organizations, religious organizations, and local sports groups are encouraged to use this modern means of communicating their news and events to the community. Leaside Gardens user groups and the Leaside Gardens Arena board will also use the sign for community outreach. Commercial entities and political messaging are not allowed. The sign will not be illuminated from dusk to dawn. Again, the sign’s use is free of charge to groups who qualify. Call the office for information on how to get your message out to our community: 416-421-4944.