Pointing the way to making access to defibrillators easier in South
Numerous road signs directing towards the nearest defibrillators and their exact location have been installed in South Sligo.
The signposts have been arranged by the local first responders with the support of various sponsors under the ‘Distinguishing the Defibs in Our Community’ project.
Rosaleen Walsh, one of the first responders in Keash, Culfadda and Gurteen area calls it a way to raise awareness amongst the community.
She said: “We have 12 public access defibrillators in the area and the majority of those are in rural locations.
“These defibs can be accessed by anyone who needs them. These are automated devices, so as soon as someone turns them on, they will talk the user through the process of how to use them.
“We have a community first responder group, who are trained volunteers that respond to emergency calls made to the ambulance service for cardiac arrest, chest pain, stroke or choking.
“We all receive texts from the ambulance informing us about the incident with the Eircode and the nearest first responder then goes and attend to the person and help them before the service arrives.
“We would attend most calls but sometimes we can’t attend all calls and that’s when the public awareness of location and use of defibrillators can be very useful.
“So, by putting these signposts in place we wanted to create awareness of where the defibrillators are located in the area.”
The newly installed signs point towards the location of defibs along with the Eircode written on them to let people know the exact location.
Keash, Culfadda and Gurteen has 12 public access defibrillators at various locations:
Rosaleen further added that the project was funded through sponsorship.
“The project ‘Distinguishing the Defibs in Our Community’ was completed with a total cost of €4,500, that was mostly collected through sponsorships
“Our main sponsors were Pat O Grady and Son Engineering along with Cllr Paul Taylor, Mark Conlon- Classic Signs and Barry O Grady.
“We also received €1000 from the Rural Action Awards. Defibrillators can be a life saver in case of Cardiac Arrests and hence the community needs to be aware of where they can find one fast.
“We also do regular CPR trainings in the community with the support of the Irish Heart Foundation and train people to perform CPR and how to use the defibrillators. These are free courses open to everyone and run for only three hours, but these have proved really helpful to the community.”
A report released by HSE in October 2023 stated that the number of Bystander CPR in cases of out of hospital cardiac arrests had increased by 24 per cent in the country between 2012 and 2022. Out of 2,802 cases of out of hospital cardiac arrests in 2022, 84 per cent had received bystander CPR while the attempted defibrillation before the arrival of ambulance service increased by 10 per cent.