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Public Access Defibrillators in Eskbank

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:42am
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Pat86R

Posts: 1

Location: Eskbank

Joined: 15 Aug 2019

I recently called 999 for an ambulance for my husband’s chest pain! One of the first things the operator asked was could someone with me run to fetch a public access defibrillator (PAD). I didn’t know where a PAD was. Do you?

 When my husband was settled in the RIE I googled the nearest PAD to Eskbank. It was miles away!. Loanhead or something like that. I did a little more research and found defibrillators in Morrisons, the Golf Club etc. These defibrillators (AED’s) are not available 24 hours and are usually only for customers and members. I was shocked (pardon the pun) that there wasn’t anything available locally. Maybe there is and I just don’t know so perhaps someone could enlighten me? The Council offices in Dalkeith might have one? It would be useful to know. 

Again, a wee bit research indicates that only 1 in 10 (some figures say 1:12) of us will survive a sudden onset heart attack at home! However, if we have access to a defibrillator your chances of survival increase by up to 70%. Now that’s significant. Last night at a local pub in Gorebridge where the patrons have funded a PAD and they were providing training for the public, the fittest amongst us could only manage one minute of CPR! Now you can understand the 1 in 10 survival rate!

I think this merits awareness raising especially as we are mainly an older population in my area (although sudden cardiac arrest affects all ages including babies and children). 

It seems to me that we need community involvement to assess our own areas and supply PADs with 24 hour access. There is funding available towards ‘community’ defibrillators but additional funding (not a huge amount) is required for the protective boxes and maintenance. 

The Scottish Ambulance Service is working towards coordinating a national database of all registered PADs so that when someone phones 999 they can direct you to the nearest PAD. Your chances of survival are better if you can reach a defibrillator within the first 5 minutes! How near is your public access defibrillator? How quick would an ambulance get to you? 

My husband has finally had bypass surgery after several heart attacks and thankfully some of the pressure is removed.  However, the worry this situation has caused us through most of this year, sitting waiting for the next attack, caused us to buy our own defibrillator. I wanted to do a community thing but time was against us. We feel mean though sitting with our own defibrillator and we would be more than happy to share it with others in our area but it would be helpful to fundraise to buy a protective box and extra pads (I haven’t yet worked out any running costs eg power to the box). 

So I’m looking to

1) raise awareness of a very important issue

2) Looking for information about public access defibrillators in Eskbank

3) Looking for sponsors, fundraising initiatives for making our AED accessible and getting a campaign going for others who want PADs nearby. ( I’m thinking of a campaign of street based ownership or ‘5 minutes away theme’ if someone has to run for a defibrillator).

Does this resonate with anyone and make you want to fix this or at least get access points in your address book so that you know where your nearest PAD is? I’d like to hear any feedback and suggestions you may have. Thank you. 

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