ASIRUS (Asthma Support in Rural Scotland)

Hi

Just wanted to let severe asthmatics who live in rural Scotland know about ASIRUS ( Asthma Support in Rural Scotland)

This charitable project supports asthmatics living in remote and rural Scotland by providing nebulisers for individuals and hospitals/surgeries. It also recently introduced the GRIP ( Grid Reference Identification Project). The grid reference of your home is recorded by the charity and passed to the emergency services.The patient is given a reference number to pass to the operater in an emergency situation thus ensuring that the response time is not hampered by the difficulty in finding the address, which is problematic in remote areas. In addition eg if the fire brigade were called an ambulance would also be dispatched due to the potential impact of smoke inhalation on the asthmatic.

The GRIP system currently operated in Highlands and Islands, Tayside, Argyle and Bute and may have extended to the Borders and Lothians.

I have my own GRIP number and feel very fortunate to live in an area covered by this charity.

Thanks ASIRUS for using technology to save lives.

Pinky