Proud to have a defibrillator on site
Not that I want to start this post on a complete downer or anything… but did you know that there are more than 30,000 cardiac arrests a year? And that fewer than one in ten people survive?
Today is Restart a Heart day. It’s a European wide initiative that takes place every 16 October, and it’s why I ate my breakfast this morning whilst watching a couple on breakfast tv tell their amazing story.
Whilst walking down the street one day, the girl dropped to the floor, started fitting and then stopped breathing. Passers-by, not sure what to do, kept on going. Thankfully the girl’s boyfriend knew how to give CPR and saved her life. The girl couldn’t have been more than about 20 years old.
So you never know who may have a cardiac arrest and when. And with statistics also estimating that 5% of all cardiac arrests will occur in the workplace, the first thing I did this morning was go and check that our workplace defibrillator was where it should be. Along with CPR, defibrillators can make a huge difference to the chances of saving the life of a person who’s had a heart attack.
A defibrillator, in case you haven’t heard the term, is a small device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall. The Resuscitation Council (UK) says that survival figures of 75% have been reported when defibrillation is performed within three minutes of someone collapsing. Considering that ambulance services aim to reach the majority of urgent calls within eight minutes, having one at your workplace could make all the difference.
Added to this a stat from the Defib Centre - that defibs in the workplace could increase survival rates from less than 5% to more than 50% - I’m pretty happy we have one on site. It’s not a legal requirement for workplaces, but maybe it will be one day. Watch this space…
Today is Restart a Heart day. It’s a European wide initiative that takes place every 16 October, and it’s why I ate my breakfast this morning whilst watching a couple on breakfast tv tell their amazing story.
Whilst walking down the street one day, the girl dropped to the floor, started fitting and then stopped breathing. Passers-by, not sure what to do, kept on going. Thankfully the girl’s boyfriend knew how to give CPR and saved her life. The girl couldn’t have been more than about 20 years old.
So you never know who may have a cardiac arrest and when. And with statistics also estimating that 5% of all cardiac arrests will occur in the workplace, the first thing I did this morning was go and check that our workplace defibrillator was where it should be. Along with CPR, defibrillators can make a huge difference to the chances of saving the life of a person who’s had a heart attack.
A defibrillator, in case you haven’t heard the term, is a small device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall. The Resuscitation Council (UK) says that survival figures of 75% have been reported when defibrillation is performed within three minutes of someone collapsing. Considering that ambulance services aim to reach the majority of urgent calls within eight minutes, having one at your workplace could make all the difference.
Added to this a stat from the Defib Centre - that defibs in the workplace could increase survival rates from less than 5% to more than 50% - I’m pretty happy we have one on site. It’s not a legal requirement for workplaces, but maybe it will be one day. Watch this space…
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