Our new Zoll defibrillator
We now welcome the addition of a Zoll fully automatic defibrillator to our funeral home in West Malling. This will give us the capability to assist in saving the life of person suffering from cardiac arrest, both in the community that we serve and our immediate working environment and work colleagues.
To help someone who is in cardiac arrest effectively, a defibrillator needs to be found as quickly as possible. For every minute it takes for the defibrillator to reach someone and deliver a shock, their chances of survival reduce by up to 10%. It therefore goes without saying, that the more defibrillators there are in circulation, the higher your chances of survival are.
In light of this, we are very pleased and proud that that we are contributing to the numbers of defibrillators in circulation within the local community.
Although the unit is based at the West Malling premises for the majority of the time, it is also taken out in the hearse when attending cremations and burials, as many of the venues do not have a defibrillator on site.
All the staff have received familiarisation sessions on how to use the unit combined with CPR, giving us the confidence and a greater chance of successful resuscitation.
The unit is a state of the art fully automatic defibrillator and requires no formal training to operate. It can be used by anyone, as it gives clear and simple audible instructions combined with pictograms for effective use. Being fully automatic, after the pads are applied it will assess the heart rhythm and only deliver a shock if required, you cannot deliver a shock accidentally.
It is the intention to increase the number of defibrillators in the future, to cover both the funeral home in West Malling and our vehicles simultaneously. This will not only increase the coverage and numbers of defibrillators in circulation within the immediate community that we serve on a daily basis, but the wider areas of the United Kingdom that we occasionally frequent when carrying out funeral services and other ‘funeral related tasks’.
Further to this, having one ‘permanent’ based defibrillator at our West Malling premises, gives us the opportunity to register the unit with South East Coast Ambulance Service, which will then allow it to become a ‘Public Access Defibrillator’ (PAD). Should a defibrillator then be required in an emergency in the area, the 999-call handler will provide details of its location, directing the individual to it.
Although as you would expect, we would prefer not to use the defibrillator if at all possible. But should the need arise, at Viners Funeral Directors we feel we are well equipped to deal with the situation be it on the premises, in the immediate local area, attending funeral services or whilst ‘mobile’.
If you require further information regarding the use of defibrillators and CPR, please use the appropriate following links:
https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/defibrillators
https://www.sja.org.uk/get-advice/first-aid-advice/how-to/how-to-use-a-defibrillator/
https://www.zoll.com/uk/medical-products/automated-external-defibrillators/aed-plus/video
