Product category:
Personal protective equipment (PPE), devices
News Release from: Laerdal Medical | Subject: HeartStart FR2 Defibrillator
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 15 February 2005
Man's life saved at Sunderland leisure
centre.
Thanks to the participation of Crowtree Leisure Centre in the HeartStart Sunderland Lifesavers Scheme, lifeguards and nurse were able to save the life of a 67 year-old man.
Thanks to the participation of Crowtree Leisure Centre in the HeartStart Sunderland Lifesavers Scheme, lifeguards Alan Towers and Gordon Carty, and Cardiac Heart Disease (CHD) Nurse Marie Hutchinson, were able to save the life of 67 year-old Ted Reilly, using a Laerdal HeartStart FR2 Defibrillator The quick-thinking first responders have been presented with a Royal LifeSavers Award for saving the life of a sudden cardiac arrest victim at Crowtree Leisure Centre, Sunderland
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 3 Mar 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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The awards were presented at the leisure centre on Wednesday February 9th during the Royal Life Savers Kiss 4 Life Week.
Ted went on to have further treatment at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, and now fitted with a pacemaker and internal defibrillator, he has recovered to tell the tale of the ordeal that momentarily rendered him medically dead.
Having undergone a quadruple heart bypass 7 years ago after a heart attack, Ted still regularly attends the Sunderland Cardiac Support Group "Exercise for Life" sessions held at Crowtree Leisure Centre.
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Laerdal donates Heartstart defibrillators
In response to the current demand for HeartStart defibrillators, at the Safety and Health Expo 06, Laerdal will be exhibiting defibrillators to suit every first aid and professional need.
The programme, aimed at keeping previous cardiac patients and their carers fit, healthy and sociable, is self financed through its members and is now attended by over 100 people each week.
It was during a Monday morning Cardiac Support Group session, on 27 September 2004 that Ted collapsed with a sudden cardiac arrest.
Marie Hutchinson, the AED-trained coronary heart disease nurse who was attending the session, recognised the symptoms and, knowing that Crowtree Leisure Centre had a HeartStart defibrillator on site, quickly summoned the help of two of the Leisure Centre's lifeguards, Gordon Cary and Alan Towers.
While Gordon started emergency ventilation (mouth to mouth), Marie administered chest compressions and Alan called 999 and fetched the HeartStart defibrillator.
While they waited for the ambulance to arrive, Marie and Gordon continued CPR and Alan attached the pads to Ted's chest and followed the audible and visual instructions on the defibrillator.
Once the machine had assessed the rhythm of Ted's heart, it advised a shock.
Alan pressed the and#156;shock" button on the machine to send a controlled and safe shock through the pads to Ted's heart, which immediately regained a stable beating pattern.
All this was carried out within 2 or 3 minutes.
Once the ambulance arrived a few minutes later, Ted was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital for further assessment.
Ted explains, "There was no warning; no symptoms at all.
I didn't feel any pain; it was as if someone had just turned out the lights.
According to the trace from the defibrillator, my heart had stopped and I was medically dead: then the machine brought me back to life on the first shock.
If it wasn't for those people's training and the HeartStart defibrillator, I wouldn't be alive today.
I was very lucky to be in the right place".
The Heartstart Sunderland Lifesavers Scheme, part of the Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust, aims to raise public awareness of the importance of basic life saving skills, including early defibrillation for victims of Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
The organisation has been instrumental in the installation of defibrillators and basic life saving skills training in an increasing number of public places in Sunderland including schools, health centres and leisure centres.
Peter Lowes, Heartstart Training Co-ordinator at Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust, said: "In Sunderland around 300 people die every year from heart attacks and around a quarter of these die in the first few minutes.
This incident shows how a medical emergency can happen at any time and that fast response by trained staff is required in order to try to ensure the survival of the person at risk.
The availability of defibrillator equipment in public venues is therefore vital and can often mean the difference between life and death situations".
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) remains the leading cause of death in men over 45 and women over 65 in Great Britain and Ireland.
Over 270,000 people in the UK suffer a heart attack each year - that's one heart attack every two minutes.
160,000 people die each year of CHD before they reach the age of 65.
30 per cent of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before they even reach hospital.
If defibrillated within 2-3 minutes of collapse, the chances of the victim's survival are increased by up to 50 per cent, however the rate of successful recovery decreases by an alarming 10 per cent per minute so it is vital that action is taken as soon as possible after collapse.
In the absence of a defibrillator, CPR alone is not enough.
Without early defibrillation, the patient will almost certainly die.
Although Laerdal's HeartStart defibrillator is a technically advanced piece of equipment, it is small, robust and surprising easy to use.
Automated voice commands and comprehensive diagrams take the operator through each step of the way.
Recent reports on community schemes and successful "save" stories confirm that the Laerdal HeartStart Defibrillators are the preferred defibrillator of many organisations in the UK.
Independent scientific user trials show that the Laerdal HeartStart First Aid Defibrillator is the most simple to operate AED (automatic external defibrillator) on the market.
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