Gift-of-life Donnie wants defibs put on the 999 map
An Oban granddad who was dead for seven minutes before a defibrillator helped save his life is backing a heart charity’s new campaign.
Donnie MacPhee had a cardiac arrest four years ago while helping to carry a couch upstairs at a house in London. He owes his life to CPR and the quick arrival of a defibrillator located just two streets away when it happened.
This week the 65-year-old, who retired from MacQueen Bros Removals in April, said he is ‘living proof’ that defibrillators work and urged people to support a new initiative by the British Heart Foundation to put all of the UK’s defibrillators on a map for 999 call-handlers.
Shocking figures show public access defibrillators are used in less than three per cent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, significantly reducing the survival chances of tens of thousands of people every year.
The charity says one of the biggest barriers to them being used is that often bystanders and the ambulance service do not know where the defibrillators are located.
When Mr MacPhee woke in hospital, he was told he had suffered a cardiac arrest, not a heart attack, and that only three per cent of people whose hearts stop are revived.
‘They told me I’d been dead for seven minutes. It was the CPR and the defibrillator that brought me back. The two go together.
‘There’s not a day goes by without me thinking back. If it hadn’t been for the help I got, I would not be here today. I’m fit and well now, enjoying retirement and keeping busy.
‘People need to know where their nearest defibrillator is and these machines have to be looked after, maintained regularly and registered with the local ambulance service to make sure they will work in an emergency. The 999 handlers need to know where they are.’
Oban Rotary Club is also in the early stages of compiling a list of all defibrillator locations in the town with the idea of producing some kind of poster to go up in shops. Club president Iain MacIntyre said they need to first get permission from individuals or organisations responsible for each of the public access machines.
When the BHF network is launched next spring, defibrillator guardians will be invited to register their lifesaving devices online.
Anyone wanting to register a defibrillator before 2019 can go to scottishambulance.com/ YourCommunity/pad.aspx
In July, The Oban Times revealed some defibrillators in Argyll may not be usable in medical emergencies because they have not been registered with the ambulance service.
When we ran a check with the ambulance service to see how many defibrillators it was aware of in the Oban area, the numbers for some locations at that time were worryingly at odds.
If a defibrillator is not registered with the Scottish Ambulance Service, it will not show up on its system and therefore the service will be unaware of its location or existence and no code will be available.)))