About Be Ready Health Care

Be Ready Healthcare Inc. is located in Sussex, New Brunswick Canada. We are centrally located an hour or less to the three major cities in New Brunswick, Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton. Be Ready Health Care originated from an overwhelming response to a pilot project started in the Sussex area in 2014. The pilot project saved lives and since that time there have been more lives saved by having publicly available epinephrine and naloxone. We are dedicated to helping people and places to continue to save lives.

We have supplied over 600 alarmed cabinets to several communities across Canada and the United States. Multiple, various sites and businesses have recognized the importance of having publicly available epinephrine and/or naloxone.

Allergy emergencies triggered the establishment of Be Ready Health Care Inc. in November 2015 due to the overwhelmingly positive response to a Community pilot program that initiated and sought to make public epinephrine auto-injectors (EAI’s) available for use by the general public. This pilot project was launched in the spring of 2014, where 28 public sites in Sussex, New Brunswick were identified and agreed to participate. Each site received an alarmed wall cabinet that contained both, one adult and one child dose of epinephrine auto injectors.  Before each site installed this cabinet, an educational session was held in order to provide them with the necessary knowledge to correctly recognize and respond to an anaphylactic reaction.  Within a few short months of the launch of this pilot, a life was saved and we quickly realized the important potential that this initiative had to save more lives, and the need to promote publicly accessible epinephrine in all communities.

 

Where Our Naloxone and Epinephrine Kits are Being Used

Our emergency kits are being used in schools, universities/colleges, restaurants, hotels, churches, fitness/recreational facilities/arenas, dental/medical offices, nursing homes, funeral homes and several private/public businesses.

Communities and businesses that are using our emergency kits are:

New Brunswick – Sussex, Hampton, Grand Bay, Charlotte County, Grand Manan, Rothesay, Quispamsis, St. John Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton and area.

Nova Scotia – Liverpool, Springhill, Halifax, Bedford and Cape Breton

Irving Oil, Nova Scotia Power, Amsterdam Quality Inns, Wyndham, Agropur, Northern Pulp, Alantra, Omya Canada

Our ultimate goal is to have publicly available epinephrine and naloxone available in a similar manner to Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s), First aid kits, fire extinguishers.

Economic – An epinephrine auto-injector (EAI) or  Naloxone is easy to use and secure.   Individuals or others can administer epinephrine or naloxone with proper education. Two or more doses are often required depending on the severity of the emergency.  In Canada, epinephrine and Naloxone auto-injectors are available behind the counter from a pharmacist.

Geographic – Time is of the essence. Seconds and minutes count with anaphylaxis or opioid overdoses. There are many rural settings and remote areas that have limited quick access to emergency services. Even larger cities do not always have quick access or response to these types of emergencies.

Most deaths are associated with no administration or a delayed administration of epinephrine or Naloxone. In particular, teenagers do not want to be identified or be seen as having allergies. They do not carry it with them and do not want to be seen as “different”. Many children and/or teens are experiencing allergy bullying. Having highly visible unlocked cabinets, centrally located and alarmed will increase accessibility and awareness during the very stressful times of a severe allergic reaction or opioid overdose.

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Kelly Dunfield BSc., BScN., RN, MN, NP

Kelly Dunfield BSc., BScN., RN, MN, NP

President

The community pilot project was the brainchild of Kelly Dunfield, a Nurse Practitioner (NP) who currently works in Sussex as a primary healthcare provider. Kelly received a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree from Dalhousie University, Occupational Healthcare Nursing Diploma from St. Lawrence College, and a Masters of Nursing in the Nurse Practitioner stream from the University of New Brunswick. She has over 30 years of Healthcare Experience as an Emergency Room Nurse Manager, Occupational Health Nurse, Quality Risk Manager and graduate of the first class of NPs in New Brunswick. She currently has a primary healthcare practice with over 1400 patients. Kelly was the inaugural Canadian Nurse Practitioner of the Year in 2018.

While attending a talk regarding anaphylaxis and hearing an unfortunate incident in which a child lost her life, it struck Kelly just how preventable deaths from anaphylaxis could be. She considered the common use and public availability of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in response to sudden cardiac arrest. Considering the benefits and prevented deaths because of the installation of AED cabinets, it became clear that this model should be adopted to respond to anaphylaxis.

The publicly available naloxone followed the epinephrine when Be Ready received a request from Corrections New Brunswick to design and develop a similar alarmed cabinet to house naloxone for response to opioid overdoses.

Be Ready Healthcare Inc. is a company dedicated to making communities safer for those who suffer from anaphylaxis and opioid overdoses by educating the public on how to respond to these life- threatening conditions while waiting for emergency personnel. Along with her husband John, a business professional with over 30 years of Sales and IT experience, it is their mission to make publicly available epinephrine auto-injectors and naloxone commonplace.

Kelly has achieved various academic and community service awards including J&J Nursing Student Leadership for Canada, and an award for Leadership in Healthcare Innovation.  Active in the community for years as basketball coach and chair of Parent/School Support committees, Kelly has also served on the Board of the Potash Corp Civic Centre, past chair of the Suicide Prevention Committee, is Founding Member and past 1st President of the Nurse Practitioners of New Brunswick and served on the Sussex Area Community Foundation Board for several years.  Kelly’s initiative, community mindedness and knowledge of the healthcare needs are driving forces behind her vision to bring publicly available epinephrine and naloxone to all communities.

John Dunfield BBA, AIT

John Dunfield BBA, AIT

Vice President

Graduate of the University of New Brunswick from the Business Administration program and Applied Information Technology at ITI, John has worked in Sales and IT for a variety of verticals including Oil & Gas, Education, Advertising, Utilities and Healthcare for over 30 years.  He has achieved numerous sales achievement awards at each company he has worked with including an eight-time Presidents Club award winner and in the community as Volunteer of the Year.  John is committed to the local community, having served as a coach in hockey, baseball, ball hockey and soccer, as well as serving on the Board of Minor Hockey as President and Vice-President for over 10 years.  John also served as Cub Scout Leader for over 5 years. He is founding member, President and Master Distiller of the Sussex Craft Distillery which has won provincial, national and international awards for their products.

Suffering from his own allergy to certain shellfish John is keenly aware of the need for publicly available epinephrine auto injectors.  His varied business background, community engagement and personal interest drive this need to share the experience of the Sussex Community Pilot.