St. George's Church now has a defibrillator situated within our Church.
Initial training has been give the the Parochial Church Council members and is being opened up to all parishioners.
The following information is taken from the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust Website and states:
When a person is suffering a cardiac arrest, they lose consciousness immediately and there are no signs of life. The AED delivers an electric pulse through the chest, in an attempt to restore normal heart rhythm. A patient's chance of survival decreases 14% every minute that passes without defibrillation; with the application of an AED within 5 minutes of collapse the best possible chance of survival is maintained.
The Chain of Survival initiative focuses on four key immediate actions, which when delivered in sequence will give the patient a greater chance of survival; these are;
- early access - call 999
- early CPR
- early defibrillation
- early advanced care
The access to a defibrillator and a trained user, on site means that three of these life saving actions can be administered, possibly before the ambulance has even arrived.
Trained staff and machines on-site ensure a safer environment for the local and wider community. It is essential that the location of these machines is made public knowledge; this could quite literally, be the difference between life and death.
AEDs save lives
"The Resuscitation Council (UK) strongly recommends the implementation of early defibrillation. Increased provision of early defibrillation through the widespread deployment of AEDs is now considered a realistic strategy for reducing mortality from cardiac arrest due to ischaemic heart disease." (The Resuscitation Council UK)