ACT Team - Sandra Clarke

ACT Executive Director receives YWCA Women of Distinction Award

ACT Foundation Executive Director Sandra Clarke was recognized with a YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Spring 2005 for her outstanding contribution to the improvement of pre-hospital emergency care in Ottawa.

Clarke was awarded the Rogers Television 22 Award for Healthy Living at the 12th annual National Capital Region Women of Distinction Awards gala on May 5 at the Ottawa Congress Centre. Women recognized in this category have improved the wellbeing of the local community by fostering better living standards, providing leadership to sport and physical activity, or by promoting healthier lifestyles.

Since founding the Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation in 1985, Clarke has worked tirelessly to improve pre-hospital emergency care in the nation’s capital. In the early 1990s, she led a major public awareness campaign to petition for a paramedic program in Ottawa and followed this by establishing a pilot high school CPR program that now trains over 10,000 Ottawa youths annually. Her innovation and leadership spearheaded the Ontario government’s approval of a paramedic program in Ottawa and CPR’s entrenchment in secondary school curricula in three provinces.

But the best measure of success are the rescue stories she receives from the community – stories made possible from skills learned through the CPR program and a paramedic system equipped with the resources to save a life.