Choose life choose defibrillator training

A LEADING first aid charity is urging organisations and businesses in Burton, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire to learn to make use of a vital piece of emergency medical equipment.

St John Ambulance has cut the cost of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) and training after new figures showed that 13 per cent of all workplace casualties are cardiac arrest victims and, for each minute that passes without defibrillation, the chances of survival fall by up to 10 per cent.

The charity wants to see more available at business premises and in locations such as doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries, leisure facilities and shopping centres where they could save someone’s life if their heart stops beating.

To coincide with National Heart Month, designated as February, St John Ambulance has introduced a new price for a package of a defibrillator and comprehensive training for up to eight people.

The package costs £1,695.

An AED is a piece of equipment that can save lives in the minutes after someone suffers a cardiac arrest.

The machine shocks the heart back into action and can be operated by anyone, regardless of the level of their first aid knowledge.

In the UK one person dies every six minutes from a heart attack and as many as one in three will die before they reach hospital.

A spokesman for St John Ambulance said: “St John Ambulance believes that no-one should die because of a lack of first aid when they need it.

“The survival rate increases by more than 50 per cent if an AED is used within the first four minutes, so immediate defibrillation could be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.

“This is a fantastic package offering all you need to have an AED on site with confidently trained staff, but in an emergency anyone can use a defibrillator as the machine talks you through the process.

“The more AEDs that are located throughout the country the more lives that can be saved.” More information is available by calling 0844 324 5535.