School Toolkit
Welcome to The Canadian SADS Foundation's School Toolkit - a vital resource for parents and educators dedicated to creating a safe and responsive educational environment for children with SADS conditions. These resources are designed to facilitate collaboration between parents and school officials. The goal is to ensure the school understands the child's condition and that a personal emergency response plan is in place. Please take the time to communicate with your healthcare team regarding an appropriate plan. Feel free to adapt these materials to make them more individualized for your child's needs.
SADS Teacher Reference
Our Teacher Reference Card is a single-page resource intended to be given to a child's teacher on the first day of school. It outlines what every classroom teacher should know about sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), in a format designed to remain at hand throughout the year.
Survival in a cardiac emergency is largely determined within the first few minutes, before paramedics arrive. In a school, that time belongs to whoever is closest, and most often that is a teacher. Teachers are also uniquely positioned to recognize the earlier warning signs of an undiagnosed heart condition, many of which present only during physical activity.
We encourage families to share the card beyond the classroom, with the main office, the physical education teacher, and any staff who supervise recess, field trips or after-school activities. The adult nearest a student in an emergency is not always the one who teaches them.
Download the teacher reference card by clicking on the button below.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest School Emergency Plan
Our School Cardiac Emergency Response Plan is a template designed to help a school put a written cardiac emergency plan in place before the school year begins. It is intended to be adapted to the school's own building, staffing and equipment, and completed together with the family.
Most schools have emergency procedures of some kind, but relatively few have a plan written specifically for sudden cardiac arrest. Survival is largely determined in the first few minutes, and a school that has settled in advance who does what, and in what order, is in a far stronger position than one making those decisions in the moment.
The plan also changes the nature of the conversation for families. Rather than asking a school to work something out on its own, it offers a clear starting point that administrators can review, complete and share with their staff.
We encourage families to complete this plan with school administration and to review it with their child's healthcare team, so that the final document reflects both the school's environment and the child's individual needs.
SADS Parent Back-to-School Checklist
As part of our toolkit, we are offering a Back-to-School Checklist that brings together everything a school needs to know about a student with a SADS condition.
Rather than sharing details piece by piece as situations come up during the year, parents can use this checklist to gather medical information, activity clearances and emergency contacts ahead of time and provide them on the first day. It also prompts families to raise the condition-specific considerations a school would not think to ask about on its own.
This checklist is not an exhaustive list, and every child's needs are different. We encourage parents to think carefully about what their own child requires at school and to add anything the checklist does not cover.
Download the back-to-school checklist by clicking on the button below.
SADS Awareness Colouring Pages
These downloadable colouring pages were created to help children with SADS conditions feel seen, understood, and supported in the classroom. It can be used as a gentle way to introduce your child's care needs to classmates and help foster a more inclusive and compassionate school environment. Parents and educators are encouraged to print and share the page with the class. It’s a simple, age-appropriate tool that can help build awareness and empathy among peers while supporting the overall message that every student belongs.
This resource was generously donated by the Love 4 Reesie Foundation to the Canadian SADS Foundation as part of our shared goal to promote understanding and safety for all children living with SADS conditions.
Download the colouring page below and help create a classroom where every child feels safe, included, and represented.
Personalized Student Safety Poster & Backpack Tag
As part of our toolkit, we are offering a customizable Student Safety Poster designed to aid teachers and school staff in recognizing and swiftly reacting to potential emergencies associated with your child's SADS condition. By providing a clear visual reference, in the form of your own child's picture, along with information about his/her specific SADS condition, this poster will serve as an immediate guide for an effective response during critical moments.
New to the toolkit this year, the Backpack Safety Tag travels with your child on their bag or luggage. A school day moves between classrooms, buses, field trips and practices, and the tag makes sure the essential information goes along too, including on the days your child is nowhere near the classroom wall. This paper insert is sized to fit a standard 2.5" x 4.25" luggage tag pouch.
Personalized Student Safety Poster & Backpack Tag
Click the button below to learn more about how we can assist you to create a personalized Student Safety Poster for your child.
Additional Resources for School Staff
In partnership with SaveStation and Action First Aid, The Canadian SADS Foundation presents an array of resources tailored to equip school officials and pertinent individuals with knowledge on managing sudden cardiac arrest emergencies:
1. Recognition: Videos highlighting how to identify sudden cardiac arrest symptoms.
2. CPR & AED Training: Educational clips demonstrating appropriate CPR techniques and the use of AEDs.
While some students may have a heart device implanted in their upper body, it is imperative to understand that, in the event of an emergency, immediate CPR/AED intervention remains crucial. Interacting with implantable heart devices during CPR poses no risk to the responder.
In addition to the videos found below, we also highly recommend visiting the SaveStation Videos page for comprehensive AED Training refresher videos and more. Each AED model has its nuances, and it's vital to be familiar with the one installed at your school. Annual CPR/AED training is vital to understanding how to operate the specific AED on your premises and to enhancing your readiness to act decisively during an emergency.
We urge parents to direct school officials to this resource section to bolster their preparedness. For ease of sharing, each video is available on YouTube—simply copy the URL to share directly.
English Videos
Vidéos en français
Our sincere thanks to SaveStation and Action First Aid for their support in creating this project.
