Heartening News for Sligo: Irish Heart Foundation and Sligo Fire Service join together in a lifesaving partnership

Three Fire Stations in County Sligo are now equipped with life saving defibrillators, thanks to sponsorship from the Irish Heart Foundation and McCarrick’s Garage, Tubbercurry.

Tubbercurry, Enniscrone and Ballymote Fire Stations received their equipment in October from Frances McAndrew of Irish Heart Foundation’s Sligo Regional Office and Vincent Hunt and Michael Kerrigan of McCarrick’s Garage. The vast majority of Sudden Cardiac Deaths occur due to a sudden onset chaotic disturbance of the heart’s electrical rhythm called ventricular fibrillation. If left untreated, death results instantly. If treated with high voltage electrical shocks (defibrillation), normal heart rhythm can be restored. If defibrillated within 5 minutes, survival rates are about 50%, potentially higher with younger patients. If time to defibrillation exceeds 10 minutes, survival rates approach 0%. Time is of the essence..

Sligo’s Chief Fire Officer Paul Coyle who was present at the handing over of the equipment was delighted with the acquisitions ‘I cannot stress enough how vital these pieces of life saving equipment are to the county’s fire service. I welcome the outstanding generosity of the Irish Heart Foundation and McCarrick’s Garage in helping to provide the defibrillators for Enniscrone, Tubbercurry and Ballymote. Although, I hope that we never get to use them, the defibrillators will be an important addition to the equipment of the fire service and will improve the level of professional fire fighting that Sligo Fire Service provides’. Frances McAndrew, Regional Manager, Irish Heart Foundation said ‘the Irish Heart Foundation is delighted to be associated with this initiative and hopes that through the provision of defibrillators that the people in Ballymote, Enniscrone and Tubbercurry will be happy in the knowledge that their local fire stations are now equipped with this vital lifesaving equipment. The Foundation is the only national charity dedicated to reducing the level of death and disability from cardiovascular disease and stroke - heart disease is Ireland’s number one killer. In Ireland the survival rate from sudden cardiac arrest is 1%.We hope that survival rates will improve significantly through the targeted placement of defibrillators and the training of local people in their use. Friday 1st October 2004 will hopefully come to be recorded in history as the day that the people of Ballymote, Enniscrone and Tubbercurry and their environs embraced defibrillators as part of their sub-conscious and realised that their local fire service was available to assist in cases where they encounter a sudden cardiac arrest victim.’

The defibrillators were handed over at each Fire Station. There was also a demonstration of the equipment to the transition year students of St Attracta’s School, Tubbercurry.