A rural Manitoba man whose life was saved by a defibrillator says his story should be a wakeup call to other communities to get the device.

Perry Batchelor, a police officer in the community of Altona, about 125 kilometres south of Winnipeg, was refereeing a hockey game on Nov. 28 when he collapsed on the ice from a heart attack.

People in the arena rushed to help him. They performed CPR and also used an automated emergency defibrillator (AED), which was available in the building.

It was a machine that Batchelor, 49, had lobbied to get installed in the first place. He also led the fundraising campaign to buy the device.

The defibrillator delivers an electric stimulus to the heart, providing critical support until paramedics arrive.

Batchelor was taken to hospital, where he had quadruple-bypass surgery and is now recovering.

He spoke to CBC News on Tuesday about his foresight in the need for the AED.

"It really wasn't a lot of work for me to get out there and convince people that this is a good spot to place their money. Thank goodness they followed my advice," he said.

Batchelor thinks all towns should make defibrillators a priority and believes the local rink is a good place for the device because there are regular cases of people collapsing from overexertion.

"Annually, you hear about someone who collapses on the ice somewhere in Canada. And sadly, it doesn't always turn out the same way it did turn out for me," he said.

A defibrillator was put in the Altona rink a year ago. Such devices cost about $2,500 to $3,000 each.