Every day of our lives, we are gifted with choice. I choose to promote positive change. I choose to work to save children from preventable deaths. I choose to fight for heart screening, so diagnosis precedes those potentially fatal events. I choose to call for legislation, so it is mandatory for schools to have a lifesaving AED immediately available. And I choose to rally for lawmaking to ensure our teachers and students are taught these life skills. There is no greater skill or gift than to be able to save a life.
Kim Ruether of Fairview is a medical radiation technologist, emergency medical responder, international speaker, researcher, author and volunteer. She founded the Project Brock Society that works to place automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in every school in Alberta and has taught thousands of Albertans how to fight sudden cardiac arrest. Kim sparked international change in 911 dispatch protocol for sudden cardiac arrest, as well as research to support the need for profound, global change in resuscitation.
Kim Petersen was born on December 9, 1965, in Fairview. Her father, Knut, immigrated to Canada from Denmark at age 17 and became a gifted jack of all trades. Her mom, Roberta (Bobbie), grew up in Raymond, AB, and worked as a registered nurse in northern Alberta and British Columbia. Bobbie was a profound influence on her girls – Kim, Kara and Kristy – who all trained in health care. The family lived on a homestead near Worsley, northwest of Fairview. It was a happy childhood with loving parents.
Kim completed the Medical Radiation Technology program at NAIT in 1986 and landed a job as an x-ray technologist at the Fairview Health Complex. She feels “blessed beyond measure” by her career. “My profession has provided extraordinary opportunities for connecting with patients and peers, an outlet to give back to the community and to live in service in ways that I feel are profoundly important,” she says.
After she started working, Kim met Wayne Ruether. They married in 1990 and started farming near town where they raised grain, cattle and a menagerie of other animals. Kim had four children in five years: Tegan, Tera, Brock and Ryan. In 2002, the small farming business won the Alberta Outstanding Young Farmers title. Inspired by a co-worker who had studied radiology online at Anglia Polytechnic University in England, Kim enrolled in the program and completed her B.Sc. in Radiology in 2005. Life was good – until it wasn’t.
On May 22, 2012, 16-year-old Brock collapsed at a volleyball practice. His heart had stopped beating. Brock’s coach and teammates called 911 and the operator directed them to retrieve an AED and begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
AEDs are small, portable devices used to identify cardiac rhythms and deliver a shock to correct abnormal electrical activity in the heart. Sadly, many people view AEDs as complicated and dangerous machines to be used only by trained professionals. In reality, they are simple machines that children can use. In Brock’s case, the AED sat unused mere inches from him. He died in the gymnasium that afternoon.
Kim used her medical background and research skills to turn the tragedy into action. She spent hours reviewing Brock’s medical records, 911 call audio and transcript, EMS reports, autopsy record, and online information. She learned that sudden cardiac arrest is the number one killer of student athletes. Yet, of all the leading causes of youth death – accidents, homicide, suicide, cancer and heart conditions – sudden cardiac arrest is the only one that can be prevented. Brock would have had at least a 75 per cent chance of survival if a defibrillator had been used within 10 minutes of his collapse.
“After determining the systemic failures and oversights that led to his death, it felt really important to create something to support change,” says Kim. “I discovered that Project ADAM and Parent Heart Watch are shining examples of [American] parents advocating strongly for education, awareness and change, and I decided we needed to do the same here in Canada.” The Project Brock Society non-profit was officially registered as of December 12, 2012.
Using donations and volunteers, Project Brock set out to ensure that each school in Alberta is equipped with an AED, and that students and teachers know how to use it during a medical emergency. So far, Project Brock has ensured AEDs have been placed in every school in Alberta’s north school zone, and has placed many more across the province. As a certified CPR/AED instructor, Kim has trained thousands of children and adults how to use an AED and how to perform CPR.
Kim worked tirelessly with the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch (IAED), the organization that produces and maintains standards for emergency dispatch worldwide. IAED conducted a detailed review of the circumstances surrounding Brock’s death and identified multiple areas for improvement. IAED also worked closely with Kim to create “Brock’s Law,” which states, “The presence of an AED does not ensure its use. The Emergency Medical Dispatcher does.”
Passed in 2015, Brock’s Law has significantly changed how more than 29,000 emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs) now approach sudden cardiac arrest events in 45 countries. Protocol now requires EMDs to advise callers to use an AED and to guide them in using it. To this day, every EMD learns Brock’s Law, and Brock’s own 911 call is used as a training example.
Highly sought as a public speaker, Kim has been invited to major national and international conferences to tell Brock’s story and educate EMDs about the importance of AED use. She works with all manner of organizations, from academic and medical groups to service clubs and government bodies. She is recognized as an inspirational leader around the world.
Wanting to build her leadership skills even more, Kim enrolled in graduate studies at Royal Roads University in 2018. As part of her work, she investigated how to engage school systems in awareness and management of sudden cardiac arrest. The results were resoundingly successful, and she graduated with a Master of Arts in Leadership (Health Specialization) in 2020. Since then, Kim has helped create a culture of Heart Safe Heroes in the schools she visits. These schools promote awareness of sudden cardiac arrest; they provide students and teachers with CPR/AED training; and some have committed to implementing school medical emergency plans with regular drills.
Since 2021, Kim has served as a patient/family advisor to the Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services Science and Research team, which is building evidence to support the need for profound, systemic, global change in resuscitation. “The gift of the team’s life-changing support, assistance and determination has helped create positive change in Brock’s memory,” she says.
Kim has contributed to scientific literature as a co-author on multiple journal articles, advancing the science of supporting families and communities. She is the provincial co-principal investigator for the Cardiac Crash study, which is assessing the effectiveness of a revolutionary new video-based CPR/AED training program for school-aged children. She also contributed a chapter to the 2018 collection of stories called Women Who Influence.
Contributing to her community through volunteer work is nothing new to Kim; she has long worked to build rural health care resources. She serves as a NAIT preceptor to help prepare the next generation of technologists who will practice in Alberta. For many years, she has volunteered with medical organizations like the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Health Sciences Association of Alberta, Childhood Cancer Canada, Fairview Palliative Care, Grande Prairie Regional EMS Foundation, Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, and Heartsight.
“Throughout my youth, I watched my mom fiercely advocate for rural health care. It was through her example, observing her passion and dedication to her patients and profession, that I initially became a proponent of rural health care,” she says.
Looking to the future, Kim says she needs help from the Government of Alberta to ensure that AEDs are put in every school in the province. She also envisions building Project Brock into a provincial and ultimately national organization, so training can spread throughout Canada.
Kim’s work has been celebrated by a number of organizations, including the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (2024), Rural Health Professions Action Plan (2022), Health Sciences Association of Alberta (2014), Fairview Rotary Club (2013), and Alberta School Board Association (2013).
“In dying, Brock has given me the gift of learning,” says Kim. Project Brock has consumed tens of thousands of hours of her time as she channels life-altering pain into a life-saving purpose. It should come as no surprise that she has become affectionately known as the “mother of resuscitation” across Alberta and beyond.