The Department of Disaster Management and the Anguilla Red Cross are advising public and private sector organisations and individuals to take immediate steps to follow procedures to save lives from cardiac arrest, one of the leading causes of death.
The advice follows a training workshop held, last week, by the Department of Disaster Management in collaboration with the Anguilla Red Cross. The training, for public and private sector employees, was in the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). It targeted persons in locations where there are large assemblies at any given time – such government offices, ports, restaurants, hotels, schools and other public and private sector places.
An AED is a portable electronic device used in diagnosing life-threatening cardiac problems. By the application of electrical therapy such conditions can be reversed, allowing the heart to reestablish effective rhythm. CPR, which the training also focused on, is a simple emergency procedure used when a person stops breathing or his or her heart stops beating. This increases the chance of survival, when used with a defibrillator, if begun before the arrival of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS).
The Department of Disaster Management stated, in a release, that the objective of the training was to enable persons to deal with emergency situations and possibly save the life of an employee or the patron of an establishment if needed.
The release continued: “The interactive training was well-received and was facilitated by Mr. Steve McDowall, of the Anguilla Red Cross, who is also the Senior Emergency Technician at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
“The time has come for public and private sector organisations to give immediate consideration to procuring an AED and have staff complements trained in CPR to save lives. These tools and skills can be very useful in times when there is difficulty for an ambulance or EMTs to respond quickly.
“It is known that sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of deaths in adults; that a treatment delay of 4-5 minutes decreases survival rates by as much as 40 per cent; that 85 per cent of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur either at work or at home; that each minute that defibrillation is delayed reduces the chances of survival by about 10 per cent; and that prompt, effective administration of CPR/AED and first aid can mean the difference between life and death.
“The Department of Disaster Management wishes to express gratitude to all persons who attended the workshop and those corporate entities which partnered in offering assistance, thus ensuring that the training was successful.”
