Are the defibrilators in place?

[clarshack]

Norf, all clubs received this email last week:

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Paraic Duffy"
Date:  Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:13:47 +0100

To: Runaithe agus Cathaoirligh



A chara,

You will have noted, in recent days, two serious incidents of cardiac failure involving elite soccer players. Tragically, Antonio Puerta of Spanish club Sevilla died after suffering a heart attack in a game on Sunday last while Irish player Clive Clarke is recovering after what has been reported as a cardiac arrest during an English League Cup game between Leicester City and Nottingham Forest. Both incidents highlight matters which our Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee have drawn to your attention during this year. Media reports indicate that Antonio Puerta had suffered bouts of dizziness after previous games while the use of a defibrillator is reported as having been crucial in saving Clive Clarke's life. These incidents emphasize that

*         Players of all ages, club and inter-county, must be encouraged to complete the Cardiac Screening questionnaire on the GAA website http://www.gaa.ie/files/gaaforms/pre-participation_cardiac_screening_questionaire.pdf

*         All clubs must be strongly encouraged to purchase a defibrillator and train members in its use. I refer you to previous correspondence on this matter and remind you that defibrillators can be ordered through Croke Park at a total cost of 1,200 euro (including VAT) while VHI Healthcare will provide free initial training to four participants from each club who purchase a defibrillator through Croke Park. You can contact Stephen Brown at sbrown@admingaa.ie for full details.



I will greatly appreciate if you will highlight these matters with all your players, using every available means of communication. Many thanks.



Is mise le meas,

Paraic O Dufaigh 



Paraic Ã" Dufaigh

Bainisteoir Leas na nImreoiri (Player Welfare Manager)

[FL/MAYO]

Folks without personalising this too much, I recently lost a close family member at just 33 from a sudden heart attack. I don't really want to go into it, but can I ask some questions re the defibrillators in Clubs?

*As with most/all Clubs in Tyrone where do you keep the defib? Currently ours is in a committee persons house, located next to the grounds. The plan is to place it in the chapel, again next to the grounds, but the problem of 24/7 access exists, and of safe but accessible storage.

*How, when there's an emergency and you get the defib do you  then find one of the 5-10 people trained to use it?

*How do you keep the fact that a defib is available in people's minds day to day? I live about 100 yards from where the defib is stoere but when my relative died, I didn't even think about it until 2 days later! I am in the commitee and so would be aware of the defib more than most, but it wasn't engrained in me that this help is at hand. It wouldn't have made a differance in this instance, but the possability exists.




A couple of ideas I am trying to run with is;
* Key rings with a picture of the defib on it, and on the flip side contact details of those trained on it.
* I'd also like to buy one(s) for the other sporting Clubs in the area, cricket clubs etc. How much do these things cost? Not that I am worried about the cost, but at least I know how much I have to raise.

AED's are simple enough to use, the ones that I have seen will talk you through the whole process, just turn them on. The matter of thinking to use one is another matter as people freeze when they are faced with the situation, its only human.
Where to store the defibrillator is another matter. In my opinion they should be stored in a location where they can be brought to the scene in a speedy manner. Police cars for example generally always have someone patrolling around in them and can usually get to a cardiac arrest in a town or village within a couple of minutes of the call, of course someone will have to be thinking straight and call the emergency services.
In the meantime if people are providing effective CPR to the patient it can buy a lot of time.

[lemon125]

Our club in Tipperary has dcecided to get a Defibrilator, actually two, one for each side of the parish. They GAA are getting it cheap ffrom the GAA and the parisg priest is paying for it. We are lucky enough that the schools, chapel, pub and GAa field are very close to each other so the main problem is to keep it in safe secure location so that ANYONE can use it. As for training, my sister is a student nurse and she has got trained in it, so I said to the committe, get all the nurses names from the parish on a list, ask them would they be available, and then traing someone us who is NOT a nurse or doctor, get the most benefit from your free training. You see clubs paying a fortume for trainers and sand tracks etc, and they are reluctant to buy something like this.... Crazy

As for player screening. One of our county hurlers was up in Dublin the weekend of the AI and was screened. One other lad in the club got screened and paid it for himself, (just for his own piece of mind) so down this side of teh country i'd say the pick up isnt great