Community defibrillator

killer007

Anybody out there involved in community defibrillation groups?
I am involved with a group setup through the Irish Red Cross and I am looking for advice on using a rota/on-call system (not 24/7) to man a fixed defib unit in the community.
We have 16 people ready to go but do we use multiple mobile mumbers,1 mobile number,pagers etc?any ideas?

timmywex

hi, im not but an interesting idea, i remember reading some time ago about a box, to which when it is opened, an alarm goes off, and connectted is a phone dialer similar to house alarms, it will then dial everyone whoes number is in it, i like this idea because it means you will have more than one person turning out generally, that makes it easier as regards cpr etc..



EDIT:sorry just read that again, im thinking of it being in a club or something where people would go when an arrest occurs, read the below post, and talk to your ambulance control if thats where you will be getting the calls from, see what way would suit them.

boomer_ie

killer007 wrote: »

Anybody out there involved in community defibrillation groups?
I am involved with a group setup through the Irish Red Cross and I am looking for advice on using a rota/on-call system (not 24/7) to man a fixed defib unit in the community.
We have 16 people ready to go but do we use multiple mobile mumbers,1 mobile number,pagers etc?any ideas?

Forget multiple numbers, too much chance of someone being unavailable, away etc etc. Set up an on call number (ready to go topped up every so often to keep it active) and combined with that an on call rota. Have the rota flexible enough (with 16 people over 2 weeks thats 24 hours on call in 2 weeks which isnt bad) that shoudl someone have a short notice event or whatever they can pass on the phone to another person in a shift swap or something similar.

You mention fixed defib unit, does this mean its mounted in a central location? Would it not be an option to have it kept with the on call person similar to how the Community First Responder systems do in the UK. At least that way you are guranteed that someone will check it regularly (ie the start of every on call shift)

Shane

killer007

Yeah,it's a fixed unit on a public wall.We toyed with the idea of giving it to a person on call but what if that person could not turn out or went out of the area with the de-fib in the boot of thier car.
Also the unit is locked with a combination lock so if there is somebody who is trained nearby but not on call they can have acess to the de-fib.
It's all ifs and buts and we realise that we rely on volunteers.At the end of the day we have to play a percentage game and hope ,
1.we never get called out and
2.We have the right people ,at the right place,at the right time.

timmywex

out of interest, where are you based killer007?