Glinsk became Ireland’s fifth HeartSafe community recently, as the local
community was presented with the Irish Heart Foundation’s HeartSafe award. The
award was presented by Eunice Langley of Defibrillator Access and Resuscitation
Association (DARA) to the Chairperson of the Glinsk HeartSafe Committee,
Anthony Brennan, at a function in the Glencastle Lounge on Saturday night week.
Two
defibrillators are to be placed at locations within the community, and the
group hopes to purchase another four or five defibrillators in coming months.
32 people have been trained in the use of the defibrillators and further people
from Glinsk are to be trained in coming months.
Speaking
on the occasion, Ms. Langley praised the local community for achieving the
HeartSafe award in just six months, but said that more people will have to be
trained to use the defibrillators. “Anyone sitting here who isn’t physically
disabled should come and get trained up. No community can have too many people
trained.”
She
pointed out that in Ireland 8,200 people die from heart attacks every year, or
24 people every day, without access to defibrillators. Praising the local
community, she said that she had her first conversation about making Glinsk a
HeartSafe village with Mary Kilcommons on St. Stephen’s Day last year and six
months later the award had been achieved.
Accepting
the award, Anthony Brennan said that Glinsk had become the fifth village in
Ireland to get the award. He thanked Eunice for taking time to attend the even
in Glinsk and also thanked the people who took part in training.
Frances
Lannon of Roscommon Ambulance Service congratulated everybody who took part in
the training and noted that four people have since gone on to become
instructors. “There is no reason why the rest of the village can’t get trained.
The ultimate aim of DARA is to have one person in each household trained.”
Guests
at Saturday night’s function heard that the group came together at the
instigation of Brian and Mary Kilcommmons and Stacey Kelly. After several
meetings with Roscommon Ambulance Service and Eunice Langley, the first CPR
training took place in the local national school and 32 people completed the
training, which is valid for two years. Brian and Mary were the parents and
Stacey Kelly the fiancée of, Enda Kilcommmons, of Derreen, Glinsk, who died
from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome in November 2004.
The
training takes two and a half to three hours. “By having this equipment in the
area, we have an opportunity to increase survival rates up to 70 percent,” said
Mr. Brennan.
“It
is not a replacement for the ambulance service. In the first instance, you
should always ring 999,” said Mr. Brennan. A list of trained people will now be
distributed in the region.
Speaking
of the purchase of defibrillators, Mr. Brennan thanked Tomás Dowd and Darragh
Connelly, who organised pool competitions and raised significant funds towards
the purchase of defibrillators.
The
ultimate aim of the group is to have a defibrillator within four or five
minutes of each house in the region. Six or seven defibrillators are needed for
the Glinsk area and two have already been purchased. The equipment is alarmed
and Mr. Brennan demonstrated the alarm and asked people to watch out and ensure
that the defibrillators are not tampered with.
Concluding,
Mr. Brennan thanked everybody who took up the training, all who contributed to
the fund, James Shevlin, author of the letter seeking funds, Shane and Bert
Curley for printing the tickets, ticket sellers and everybody who supported the
night in any way. He paid special tribute to Brian and Mary and Stacey for all
their work behind the scenes.
“To
date, we have in excess of €11,000 raised, that has all come from the
community, including some very large generous private donations. On behalf of
the group, we thank each and every one of you.”
The
next round of training in Glinsk takes place in September.
