A Co Galway town is gearing up to be the safest place in the State to have a heart attack with the launch yesterday of a community access defibrillator programme.
Almost 30 residents from all walks of life have signed up for the Loughrea "Heart Safe Town" project which involves supplying defibrillators and training volunteers to use the equipment.
The defibrillators, used in sudden cardiac arrest, will be available within a three minute radius of any part of town under the new programme, which is supported by Croí, the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation.
Three defibrillators have been bought by the local chamber of commerce and businesses and have been placed in the fire station, McInerney's SuperValu in the town centre and at the Corrib Oil depot on the outskirts of the town.
Volunteer fire officer Mr Martin Ward, and some 22 volunteers have finished their training and another seven have signed up for tuition over the next fortnight.
The Loughrea "Heart Safe Town" project was initiated by Mr Joe Fahy, resuscitation and training officer at Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe.
"This idea is in response to the efforts of local heart charity, Croí, which is leading the way with public access and community access defibrillation in the west of Ireland," Mr Fahy said.
Schemes like this are ideal for rural towns which are at a distance from hospitals and emergency ambulance services, he added.
The chief executive of Croí, Mr Neil Johnson, noted that sudden cardiac arrest was a leading cause of "out of hospital" death, with over 6,000 Irish people dying annually in this way.
"In Ireland, the survival rate from sudden cardiac arrest is estimated at less than 1 per cent, which is unacceptable," Mr Johnson said.
"Special circumstances, such as geography, terrain and limited emergency service resources militate against rapid response to cardiac emergencies in the west."
He said in cases of cardiac arrest, unless the patient is defibrillated within three to five minutes, the chances of survival decrease by as much as 10 per cent with every passing minute.
"The ideal scenario is to have a defibrillator, with a trained person, available to respond within this timeframe," he said, paying tribute to the enthusiasm for the project in Loughrea.
Loughrea, best known for its cathedral, was designated Ireland's "euro town" before the introduction of the new euro currency in 2002.
