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You are > Home > Gorey Heartsafe - The Full Story
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Thursday, March 04, 2010
Gorey Heartsafe - The Full Story
ACCORDING TO the Irish Heart Foundation website, “about 70% of all sudden cardiac arrests happen out of the hospital, in the presence of a family member or friend.” Denis Maguire, founder of Gorey Heartsafe says that knowing how to do C.P.R.
(CardioPulmonary Resuscitation) and being familiar with using an A.E.D. (automated external defibrillator) are some of the most important skills you can ever learn.
He tells Jennifer Nolan how Gorey Heartsafe came about. I met Denis Maguire for the first time last September whilst taking part in the Gorey Heartsafe training course.
On the night of my revalidation earlier this month, I had a chat with Denis to find out more about this fantastic organisation.
Denis and his family moved to Wicklow in 1970 after spending all of their lives in Dublin.
When Denis retired from his job in the Royal Liver Insurance Company, Denis and the family moved to Gorey.
In 2006 Denis came across an article in the Irish Times about a Heartsafe group in Rooskey, Co. Roscommon.
After reading the article he felt compelled to start up something similar in Gorey.
Denis was very familiar with Rooskey, as he often stopped off there while cruising on the Shannon with his family.
Knowing how small it was, he was even more impressed with their Heartsafe initiative which was very successful as 6 defibrillators were put up around the village and 60 people were trained how to use them.
An A.E.D. is a machine about the size of a laptop that checks the victim’s pulse and can apply a shock to help re-establish the heart rhythm.
Having A.E.Ds in various locations around towns could prevent hundreds of needless deaths each year.
After partaking in the free training course I can honestly say that they are incredibly simple to use but it is recommended that you do the course in order to be familiar with the process.
Around the same time that Denis read the Rooskey Heartsafe article in the paper, his neighbour suffered a heart attack and sadly passed away.
“The doctor arrived one and a half hours late and the ambulance was even later to arrive. I realised how first aid was a huge problem in Gorey as there are only a handful of ambulances in the county.”
The death of Denis’s neighbour inspired him to begin his project so his first step was the active retirement group in Gorey.
When Denis approached the active retirement group about setting up a sub-committee for the Gorey Heartsafe project, his idea was rejected by the Chairman.
Despite this, many of his fellow members were very interested in what Denis had to say so he quickly gained a support network.
In late October, 2006 Denis’s plans for Gorey Heartsafe were rapidly becoming a reality and he was not alone on his journey.
“I had fantastic support around this time, especially from Sean Walsh (Gorey Heartsafe co-founder) and Brida Phelan. Martha Leathem was our vice-chairperson and was also actively involved. Martha was a matron in a private hospital in London so she had great advice for us along the way.”
The dedicated team began canvassing, talking to businesses and organising collection days to raise money for defibrillators.
According to the American Heart Foundation website, “if a defibrillator is used on the victim within 5 to 7 minutes of collapse, followed by early advanced care, the survival rate is as high as 49%.”
Gorey Heartsafe’s first defibrillator was put outside of Roches pharmacy and the first training session took place in the pharmacy, all thanks to Cecily Roche (proprietor).
“In the beginning, Beryl Kelly of the Red Cross, did all of our training for us before training our volunteers to become instructors.
”Colm O’Gorman also supported Gorey Heartsafe in the early days by helping them to get funding from the National Lottery. Since then, Gorey Heartsafe has gone from strength to strength.
There are now 16 defibrillators in Gorey and three committed trainers who conduct all training and re-assessments: Lillian Fleming, Susan Greenalgh and Kenneth Maguire.
The following committee was elected at their last meeting: Ken Maguire Chairperson, William Willoughby Vice Chairperson, Padraig Rohan Treasurer, Geraldine Farrell secretary and Lillian Fleming Minute Secretary and P.R.O. Lillian Fleming has been a dedicated volunteer for the past 2 years and feels that she is “giving something back” to her community.”
“The more people that know how to do C.P.R. and use the A.E.D. machine the better, as it might save someone’s life.”
According to the American Heart Association website, if C.P.R. is not provided, a sudden cardiac arrest victim’s chances of survival fall between 7% and 10% for every minute of delay until defibrillation.
By giving C.P.R. to a sudden cardiac arrest victim you are ‘buying time’ by maintaining blood flow to the heart and brain.
During my training session, both Lillian and Kenneth were enthusiastic and very helpful to all of the participants.
The training was done very thoroughly over about 2 hours which was broken by a tea break.
The Gorey Heartsafe trainers don’t like to have the room set up formally like a classroom so we all moved the chairs into a semi-circle.
We watched an instructional step-by-step DVD which was paused after each section so that we could practice each stage of C.P.R. Kenneth and Lillian are both excellent trainers who immediately put everyone in the room at ease.
This ensured that all of the trainees could practice doing C.P.R. and using the A.E.D. on a manikin without feeling self-conscious. Naturally enough, most of us felt a bit silly talking to a plastic torso and tapping him on the shoulders to see if he was OK!
Despite this, we all had a bit of a laugh during the roleplay and got engrossed in the dramatic scenes unfolding on the projector.
The mannequin is designed especially for this type of training so when we pinched the nose, tilted the chin and exhaled into the mouth, the mannequin’s chest rose.
By the end of the session, I felt like I had done a bit of a work-out from so many chest compressions on the manikin but I felt much more confident about doing C.P.R. in a real-life emergency.
During the training course we all learned lots of interesting facts about life-saving and had the opportunity to ask the trainers any questions that had arisen.
One important fact that was emphasised is that people of any age can go into cardiac arrest.
Sudden death syndrome has taken the lives of many young, fit people under the age of 35 and this has led to more A.E.Ds being kept near sports grounds.
The 16 defibrillators in Gorey are specific distances apart in order to cover a wider area.
As well as the defibrillator outside of Roches pharmacy there are also defibrillators outside of Unicare pharmacy, Wades pharmacy, Gorey pharmacy, in the Ashdown Park Hotel, Gorey Shopping Centre, Gorey Credit Union, Gorey Community School (2), the Gaelscoil, Educate Together National School and St. Joseph’s National School.
Most of the teachers have been trained in C.P.R. and A.E.D. usage by Gorey Heartsafe. There was also a defibrillator outside of Crowe’s on Esmonde Street which was so badly vandalised that Gorey Heartsafe had to discard it.
Each defibrillator costs €2,500 and the protective box for the machine is €500. When Gorey Heartsafe replaced the defibrillator they had to put it inside of the shop so it is only available during Crowe’s opening hours.
There is a defibrillator outside of the Garda station which the guards take with them on certain calls if they think it may be needed.
If you are interested in learning more, the next Gorey Heartsafe training days are Wednesday 10th and Wednesday 24th March at 7p.m. in the Ashdown Hotel.
Training can take up to 3 hours depending on the number of attendants. Revalidation sessions for people who have completed the C.P.R. /A.E.D. course are also run by Gorey Heartsafe and should be attended every 6 months.
Revalidation takes about 20 minutes or less.
Trainees will receive an Irish Heart Foundation certificate for their wallet after their first revalidation. Training with Gorey Heartsafe is currently free of charge and Denis would like to stress that the training is open to everybody.
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