Defibrillator may be centrally located

The committee of the Kilcullen First Responders voluntary group which decided to disband earlier this week is exploring ways to make the defribrillator unit (AED) it posseses available to the community by placing it in a central location, writes Brian Byrne.

This follows a meeting of the committee subsequent to last Tuesday's decision to disband. In a statement issued last night, the KFR committee also pledged to support any new group of volunteers who wish to establish a new community first responder unit in the town. The full text of the statement follows.

On Tuesday February 7th 2012 at a meeting of the Kilcullen First Responders (KFR) the voluntary group decided to disband. At a subsequent KFR committee meeting there was discussion of how to fulfil our ongoing obligation to the community, especially with regard to the defibrillator (AED) and our in-house skills.

At this meeting a decision was taken to explore ways of improving the community's access to the AED by placing it in a central location in the town giving around the clock access to the unit. This objective is in line with practices elsewhere which has been proven to be effective.

The KFR committee will support any new group of volunteers who wish to establish a new community first responder unit in the town. In the interim we understand that the Calverstown First Responder unit have been officially nominated by the HSE Ambulance Service to cover the Kilcullen area until a new voluntary responder unit is established.

Meanwhile, the National Ambulance Service is currently developing a policy relating to notifying first responders which would deal with the issues that led to the disbandment of the KFR group. There's no timeframe for when this will be rolled out.


Click on the ad for details