Is a Defibrillator just for Emergency First Responders or can anyone use one.
Why should every neighbourhood area/estate n have a defibrillator/AED close to where people live?
Does a defibrillator hurt or injure a person in cardiac arrest?
Anyone can use a defibrillator to help someone who is in cardiac arrest. Most defibrillators now prompt the user and guide them in the application of the defibrillator. Cardiac arrest means, someone has collapsed and is unresponsive and not breathing, so doing CPR and applying a Defibrillator will give that person a chance of survival. Without CPR and/or a Defibrillator, the person won't survive.
We all want our loved ones to survive a cardiac arrest, and to help those we live with or our neighbours and friends in an emergency cardiac arrest situation. 72% of all non-hospital cardiac arrests in Ireland happen in the home. Please READ THIS AGAIN - 72% of all non-hospital cardiac arrests in Ireland, happen in the home. That is a shocking statistic and as there are few Defibrillators or AED's in residential areas'/estates, people are left without the vital emergency equipment that can save lives.
Therefore every residential area should have a defibrillator available to residents and passersby - because it takes too long to go find the nearest defibrillator in towns, cities, villages, battle with traffic in a panic and return to the patient within 3 minutes, apply, and get the heart restarted. For someone in cardiac arrest every minute counts, so starting CPR manually and deploying a defibrillator as quickly as possible will give that person the best chance of survival. Using the residents defibrillator will also help to buy time for the ambulance service to reach the patient. It's just common sense.
No - using a defibrillator on a person/patient in cardiac arrest will not hurt them as the person is is non-responsive, not breathing and if dead. Using a defibrillator/AED can help give a person a second chance at life. Without the intervention of CPR and a Defibrillator, the patients chance of survival is significantly if waiting for ambulance to arrive. Using a defibrillator is one of the vital emergency actions in the Chain of Survival and assists ambulance crews who will take over when they arrive.