DEFIBRILLATORS SAVE LIVES

ACCORDING to the British Heart Foundation there is one heart attack every three minutes in the UK.

Last year Medicash joined forces with the Liverpool BID to launch a campaign called CardiACT, backed by the North West Ambulance Service to make Liverpool ‘heart safe’ by providing more defibrillators in the City Centre.

Defibrillators are vital, potentially life-saving devices and should be as common in public places as fire extinguishers. The aim of the campaign was to install defibrillators across the city centre, ensuring that no individual is ever more than two minutes away from one.

This ambition has now been realised with 32 additional defibrillators in place and one life saved so far as a direct result of the scheme.

Medicash would like to thank the ECHO and all those who supported the CardiACT campaign to help achieve this life-saving goal.

Now the CardiACT scheme is being extended across the North West and Medicash is encouraging other businesses to come forward to purchase a defibrillator for their business or to team up with their neighbouring businesses to buy one on a shared basis.

Through the scheme, businesses or community groups can purchase a heavily discounted defibrillator. Free training and support worth up to £500 is also included.

Evidence shows the chances of survival from a cardiac arrest is 80% if a device is used within two minutes. Without a defibrillator, the chances of survival reduce to just 2%.

If you suspect you are witnessing someone having a cardiac arrest dial 999 and you will be told the location of your nearest defibrillator.

If you are running a business or community group and want to find out more about the CardiACT scheme, please email info@cardiact. co.uk