Kim Ruether turned her son’s death into a national safety campaign that has already reshaped how emergency dispatchers around the world respond to sudden cardiac arrest. The Fairview medical radiation technologist, inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2024, founded the Project Brock Society to place automated external defibrillators in Alberta schools and to teach the public how to use them, work that grew out of grief and has since helped save lives.
A Rural Alberta Upbringing in Health Care
Kim Petersen was born December 9, 1965, in Fairview, to Knut, a Danish immigrant who worked as a skilled tradesman, and Roberta, a registered nurse who practised in northern Alberta and British Columbia. Roberta’s example steered all three of her daughters, including Kim, into health care careers. Kim completed the Medical Radiation Technology program at NAIT in 1986 and began working as an x-ray technologist at the Fairview Health Complex, a career she has described as offering constant opportunities to connect with patients and give back to her community. She married Wayne Ruether in 1990, and the couple farmed grain and cattle near Fairview while raising four children, later completing her B.Sc. in Radiology through distance study in 2005.
The Day Everything Changed
On May 22, 2012, Kim and Wayne’s 16-year-old son Brock collapsed at volleyball practice when his heart stopped. His coach and teammates called 911 and were guided to retrieve an automated external defibrillator, but the device sat unused nearby, and Brock died in the gymnasium that day. Ruether used her medical training to review his medical records, the 911 call, and emergency response reports, and learned that sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death among student athletes, and the only one of the major causes of youth death that can be prevented. Alberta’s official account of her work notes Brock likely had at least a 75% chance of survival had a defibrillator been used within 10 minutes of his collapse. She founded the Project Brock Society that December.
Rewriting the Rules for Emergency Dispatch
Project Brock has worked to place AEDs in every school across Alberta’s north school zone and many more across the province, with Ruether personally training thousands of children and adults in CPR and AED use as a certified instructor. She also worked with the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch, whose review of Brock’s case led to what is now known as Brock’s Law, a standard requiring emergency dispatchers to actively direct callers to retrieve and use an AED rather than assuming bystanders will do so on their own. Passed in 2015, Brock’s Law now guides more than 29,000 emergency medical dispatchers across 45 countries, and Brock’s own 911 call is used in dispatcher training. Ruether went on to complete a Master of Arts in Leadership with a health specialization at Royal Roads University in 2020, researching how school systems can better prepare for cardiac emergencies.
Advocacy Built on Research and Rural Roots
Since 2021, Ruether has served as a patient and family advisor to Alberta Health Services’ Emergency Medical Services research team and is the provincial co-principal investigator for the Cardiac Crash study, which is testing a video-based CPR and AED training program for school-aged children. She has co-authored multiple journal articles, volunteered for years with organizations including the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Grande Prairie Regional EMS Foundation, and continues to serve as a NAIT preceptor training future radiation technologists. Her work has been recognized by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Alberta School Boards Association. Colleagues and advocates across the province have come to know her simply as the mother of resuscitation, a nickname that reflects thousands of hours spent turning a family tragedy into a province-wide safety campaign.
Does your child’s school have a defibrillator within reach, and would the people nearby know how to use it?
