A defibrillator is life-saving technology that’s used to deliver an electric shock through the chest wall when someone goes into cardiac arrest. Every year, 30,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital caused by problems with the electrical signals in the heart. This stops the heart from functioning properly, doing its job of pumping blood around the body, eventually starving the brain of oxygen.
The signs of a cardiac arrest are easy to spot. A person will collapse suddenly. They may be in cardiac arrest if shaking them or shouting does not rouse them and they have stopped breathing, or are breathing abnormally.
The British Heart Foundation has published the following four stage guidelines if you find someone who is having a cardiac arrest and needs assistance:
- Call 999
- Start CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)
- Ask someone to bring a defibrillator if there’s one nearby
- Turn on the defibrillator and follow its instructions.
It might seem daunting, but using a defibrillator is very straight forward and doesn’t require training as the device will instruct you in what to do. It will check the person’s heart rhythm and tell you when to deliver a shock, and when to carry out CPR. The combination of CPR and defibrillation gives a person the highest chance of survival.
According to the British Heart Foundation, if a defibrillator is used to give a shock within the first minute of a cardiac arrest, there’s a 90% chance a person will survive. But for every minute that passes without a defibrillator, a person’s chance of survival goes down by 10% – so it’s essential to act quickly.
Knowing where the defibrillators are is obviously very important, they can be found at the following locations;
Rye Sports Centre, The Grove, Rye, TN31 7ND
Rye Lawn Tennis Club, 115 Military Road, Rye, TN31 7NY
Rye Heritage Centre, Strand Quay, Rye, TN31 7AY
The George, High Street, Rye, TN31 7JT
Red Telephone Box, Udimore Road, Rye, TN31 7DY (Main photo)
Valley Park, Substation, Jeake Drive (next to No 13), Rye, TN31 7FH
Tilling Green, Newsagents, 45 Lea Avenue, Rye, TN31 7BH
In local villages they can be found in Iden at the Old Hall in Church Lane and the Village Hall in Main Street; at the Memorial Hall in Main Street, Peasmarsh; at the Memorial Hall in Lydd Road, Camber; at the Village Hall in Main Street, Beckley; at The New Inn in German Street, Winchelsea; at the New Beach Club, Pett Level Road in Pett Level; and at the Village Hall in Pett Road, Pett.
Image Credits: Nick Forman .