Affordable easy-to-use Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) for use in the home are now available in the UK from The Defib Centre
HeartSine® Personal Defibrillation Unit PDU 400West Sussex, United Kingdom – The Defib Centre Ltd, the Sussex-based sudden cardiac arrest information resource and authorised distributor of UK-manufactured HeartSine Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) has just launched.
According to the British Heart foundation, sudden cardiac arrest kills more than 2,000 people in the UK every week. It is the UK’s biggest killer, claiming more victims than lung cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined. It is these appalling statistics that motivated Robin Shepherd, former Channel 5 and BBC1 Watchdog "back expert", to set up The Defib Centre.
“A cardiac arrest will completely drain the life from someone within 10 minutes. But, instead of standing by and watching that happen, with a little training and an essential, affordable, easy-to-use piece of equipment, you can improve their chance of survival dramatically,” says Shepherd.
“Imagine that you find someone - perhaps your husband, wife or work colleague - who has collapsed. What do you do? Call 999 and hope the emergency services get there in time? If an automated external defibrillator (AED) is used alongside cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within the first 5 minutes of an attack, the survival rate goes up from less than 5% to over 60%. With over 80% of cardiac arrests happening outside a hospital, and mostly in the home, it could be down to you whether someone close to you lives or dies! Is the ambulance response time to your home less than 5 minutes?”
A home AED from The Defib Centre - www.thedefibcentre.co.uk - can be purchased for as little as £599+VAT - and the price includes a free CPR/AED training kit. The HeartSine AED was designed specifically for simplicity of use; the size of a radio, with a 5 year battery life, it has only two buttons to press, and no heavy paddles dripping with gloop to wave about . . . but you do still get to say: "Stand clear!" The AED will only shock if a shock is advised; it won’t do any harm and cannot be overridden. No one has never been taken to court for trying to save a life with an AED, whatever the outcome. And it is easy to use; a study in "Circulation" showed that a group of 12-year-olds, who had never seen an AED before, successfully delivered a shock in just 23 seconds longer than trained paramedics.
Another surprising - and sad - fact is that you are probably better off having a cardiac arrest in a casino in America, a brothel in Switzerland, on an airplane or in a train, as they all have AEDs available and can get to you in those critical first 5 minutes. At home - without access to an AED - your chances of survival are incredibly slim. Things would be significantly better if everyone in the UK was trained in CPR and in the use of AEDs - as is the case, increasingly in many European countries and America, often as part of their school curriculum.
The Defib Centre’s director, Robin Shepherd, DO, recognises the problem and is making every effort to improve this situation: “Ask if there's an AED in your gym, in your school, at your workplace, and if there isn't, suggest that they get one,” he says. “If you’re serious about saving a life, then buy an AED for your home and get some basic training in life support. The free training package that comes free with every AED simply and quickly shows you how to perform CPR and use an AED, enough for anyone to be safe and successful - it’s a great starter and will arm you with everything you need to know to save a life. The Defib Centre is driven by passion, not profit, and our aim is to make AEDs available everywhere and for everyone, next to every fire extinguisher in the country."
To purchase an AED, click here: http://www.thedefibcentre.co.uk/shop/home.php?cat=1
About Robin Shepherd
Robin is a medical osteopath and expert witness by profession. He was acting chairman of the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) until April 2009, remains on the GOsC board and is a trustee of Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA). He has lectured nationally, internationally, at post-graduate and under-graduate levels within his profession and has been featured on television, radio and in the press on many occasions over the last 20 years.
About The Defib Centre
A few years ago, Robin’s life was touched by the deaths of two close friends due to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This motivated him to create The Defib Centre, an up-to-date information resource determined to educate the public about and raise awareness of the problem of SCA and provide the essential part of the solution with the most affordable, reliable and easy-to-use AED available for home use. Driven by passion and not profit, The Defib Centre has done the research on AEDs so that you don't have to.
For more information, please contact:
Robin Shepherd
The Defib Centre
Unit 1, "Kings Copse"
Plaistow
West Sussex
RH14 0PE
0800 634 9745
contact@thedefibcentre.co.uk
http://www.thedefibcentre.co.uk
Submitted by:
John Wood
+44 777 152 0001
jw@worldwidepr.net
http://www.worldwidepr.net
http://twitter.com/worldwidepr
London, United Kingdom
