We contacted you because our records showed that you were treated by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and/or Fire personnel for a sudden cardiac arrest (sudden stoppage of the heart). Because we collected your data under a waiver of consent (without your permission) from your EMS record, we are contacting you to see if you still want your data used for research purposes. We could not ask for your permission before collecting your data as you were not conscious or breathing when you had your cardiac arrest.
Received a Letter About C-SCAN?
If you no longer want to participate in the research study, you may contact us at any time. Please email: katie.allan@unityhealth.to or call: 416-864-6060 x.76347 to let us know. Please provide your full name and when you had your cardiac arrest so that we can make sure to remove all of your data from the database.
C-SCAN is a national network of scientists, doctors, paramedics, coroners, medical examiners, statisticians and patients, all working together to try and understand how many Canadians experience a sudden cardiac arrest (sudden stoppage of the heart) each year. We don’t actually know how many people suffer a sudden cardiac arrest event each year and why. If we can figure out how many Canadians are affected by it and why their hearts stopped, we can then design better treatments or ways to prevent it from happening in the first place.
All patient data that is entered into the C-SCAN database is de-identified. This means that all of your personal health identifiers have been removed from the data so that you cannot be identified personally. This data is securely stored on a St. Michael’s Hospital server and can only be accessed at St. Michael’s Hospital, by designated research study staff. All research staff have been properly trained and signed confidentiality agreements, so they know how to properly access your data.
We have several patient partners who help us with our research. Our patient partners help with the design of the study, its implementation as well as identifying the important research questions that we need to ask. We always welcome input from patient partners. If you would like more information or to speak to someone, please email C-SCAN@smh.ca.