News in brief: Nov. 11, 2009

Laurier professor tests new cardiac arrest device

A new device being used by paramedics in the Waterloo region is said to lower cardiac arrest fatalities.

Renee MacPhee, an assistant professor of kinesiology and physical education at Wilfrid Laurier University, is the local co-ordinator of this study that is based out of Seattle.
The “impedance threshold device” being tested is a light, plastic gadget that had been undergoing a clinical study in North American for the past two years.

The device aims to save lives by improving the blood flow back to the heart for people who would be suffering a cardiac arrest. It is used when performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Students ‘drinking and sleeping’ defense rejected

Despite unusual circumstances, 20-year-old Laurier student John Soong has lost his license for a year for drunk driving in March 2008.

Song attempted to explain to the judge that he must have been “sleep drinking” in his residence.
He testified that he took several cold medications before going to bed, that he was unaware that he was drunk when he woke up two hours later, and that he must have consumed alcohol in his sleep.

The judge dismissed this story as a piece of “fiction.”

Soong was given the minimum $600 fine and lost his license for a year.