An initiative being undertaken in Co Monaghan to map the locations of AED or defibrillator devices could be used as a template for a national programme, a representative of the National Ambulance Service told Tuesday’s meeting of the Co Monaghan Joint Policing Committee. The meeting heard that there had been expedient progress on the call made by outgoing Cathaoirleach of Monaghan Co Council Colm Carthy last week, in the wake of the Christian Eriksen incident during a Euro 2020 soccer international, for the locations of potentially life-saving defibrillator equipment at sports and community facilities, public spaces and buildings in the county to be mapped in a format that could be made easily accessible to the public.
In an address to the JPC members, Liam Stewart of the National Ambulance Service’s Community Engagement Unit said that one of the service’s main aims was to increase the chances of survival of people who collapsed in a community with sudden cardiac arrest. He said that 2,500 people in Ireland suffered such attacks each year, and in such instances CPR had to start quite quickly.
Stressing the need for defibrillators to be registered, the National Ambulance Service representative commended what he described as the disproportionately large concentration of defibrillators in Co Monaghan and praised the work done in this regard by Monaghan Co Council’s Community Development Officer Carol Lambe and community action teams throughout the county.
“The more defibrillators we get registered the better,” Mr Stewart emphasised. He added that the mapping initiative being undertaken by Monaghan Co Council would help achieve that and provide the National Ambulance Service with a pilot scheme that they could roll out in other areas across the country. Mr Stewart also praised the work being done by Community First Responder groups….
