Trust supporting ‘Shoctober’ and #findthedefib campaign
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is supporting a national campaign, ‘Shoctober’, throughout October to hunt down life-saving defibrillators.
SECAmb is asking people to #FindTheDefib and tweet their selfies next to them to @SECAmbulance and @SECAmbulanceCFR to locate life-saving machines that have been bought with good intentions but aren’t registered with the Trust.
It is essential for ambulance services to be aware of the locations of all public defibrillators (AEDs) in their area in order for Emergency Medical Advisors to direct 999 callers to them in the event of a nearby cardiac arrest.
A cardiac arrest occurs when person’s heart stops pumping blood around their body and to their brain. The earlier someone receives treatment in the form of CPR and a shock from a defibrillator the greater their chance of survival.
SECAmb Community Partnership Lead, Malcolm Legg said: “We really want people to get behind this campaign. It’s vital that every single public access defibrillator is registered on our system so that we can direct 999 callers to them to be used in the event of a cardiac arrest.
“It’s a fun way to raise awareness of an important issue. Whenever you see a defibrillator grab your phone and take a selfie, even if you think it’s one we already know about. Send us as much information you can about the location and we can check it against our database.”
AEDs are easy to use, easy to carry and won’t deliver a shock unless it is required. There is no clinical training required to be able to use the machine.
The location of AEDs can sometimes be marked with a sign showing a white heart on a green background, or they could just be mounted on a wall behind bars, in corridors, gyms, leisure centres, offices, tourist attractions, schools, colleges, restaurants, coffee shops – anywhere at all!
If you don’t tweet you can also send a photo to pad@secamb.nhs.uk. And if you don’t want to send a photo just email the location details and we’ll make sure the device is logged and ready to use in the event of an emergency.
