Home defibrillator?

[Auctioneerjim]

Hi all

Living in a very rural area knowing it could take at least 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive( and that’s if one available!, last time it took unbelievable 6 hours !!! ) I am conscious of the fact I am at high risk of another heart attack and therefore possible cardiac arrest. Although there is a community defibrillator about 1/4 of a mile away my 62 year old wife is unlikely to be able to get there and back quickly and she is pushing for me us to buy our own ! Is this a bit OTT ? Or maybe I should but where would we buy one from !! Thanks for reading this

[shopman]

I also live in a very rural area and see where you are coming from. All our local villages all have defibrillators mounted externally in central places. Have you not thought of finding out who is trained to use them and making a note of their phone number should the need arise.

[Dolphin14]

Never thought if this. But, I think I would be a little concerned too. Six hour response time isn't going to have a happy ending if you need a defibrillation shock.

Having just read that my immediate answer is get one. If you use it once obviously it just paid for itself.

Ask local EMT / firefighters the brand they use and Mayb you could purchase on line?

Great question

[Lezzers]

Do you not have local rapid response teams in your area that can get to you quicker? Also, if you're high risk of cardiac arrest maybe your consultant could consider an ICD for you?

[daisy2311]

I would say why not? There is a local charity called Heart to Heart here in Norfolk. It is run by a lady who aims to get as many defib out into the community as possible. She started the charity after her 7 year old went into sudden cardiac arrest and was saved by a defib. I'm sure she would be pleased to recommend a defib to you. I would be happy to put you in touch or you can find her charity via facebook. I know she has fitted a public defib to someone's house before now.

[Auctioneerjim]

Thanks for the replies. I’ve been looking long and hard at the available figures and it’s a fact that less than 10 % of people who suffered an out of hospital cardiac arrest survived! The doctors say if your heart is not restarted within just 20 minutes then the brain is irreversibly damaged anyway ! Not good ! The big problem I, and many other people with cardio problems face is that we just don’t know if it’s going to happen! The figures are frightening but I still can’t get my head round buying one although the chances of me getting professional help within twenty minutes is highly unlikely! I’ve now spoken to my local lives charity who can supply one ( the same as used on our local ambulance) and provide training for my family for £1000 with no vat so looks like that’s the answer

For anyone else interested it’s called a cardiac science g5 fully automatic

Thanks again for all your replies Jim

[Hidden in reply to Auctioneerjim]

Hi Jim... I’m surprised that they can provide one for £1000. I would suggest that you speak with the British Heart Foundation they have been instrumental in getting Defibs into the community. I dealt with them when getting some for our village and the two most common Defibs are the iPAD SP1 and Zoll Aed. They are both excellent machines, although the iPAD sp1 seems to be the one that Community first responders use. Both machines will talk you through what to do and subsequently need little or no formal training. As you can imagine trying to ensure an entire town/village is trained prior to installing one for public use would be unachievable. So they designed for people to use them without any training. However, CPR is another thing and it would be very useful for your immediate family to be trained on giving CPR. Before committing any money on this type of equipment, I would speak with your GP or Cardiac Nurse or the BHF, as they will give you a completely unbiased opinion as they will not be gaining financially from any advice given .

[Auctioneerjim in reply to Hidden]

Thanks! I have checked and this one is the one our local ambulance service use and is fully automatic with voice instructions. After contacting several companies on line this was the best price for this particular model.

[Lezzers in reply to Auctioneerjim]

I would completely agree with Penfold_5 about learning CPR, sometimes you still have to do it even when using a defib. The defib will tell you when you need to do it so I would incorporate it in any training. Also, you may be out on the street & see someone else having a cardiac event, precious minutes could be saved doing CPR whilst someone fetches a defib, brain damage will start occurring within 5 mins of cardiac arrest.

[not2worry]

I think a home defibrillator is a great idea for anyone knowing they can’t receive quick medical response in a rural area.

I believe they now have defibrillators that can actually have a voice control that walks a lay person through what to do as they are using them.

Our doctor even suggested we get one even though we live in a metropolitan area . But when you need the jolt time is of the essence and every second counts.

[Grayjay]

Would you consider moving to an area near to a hospital? I live about 1/4 mile from our A&E which has it's rewards and has come in very handy over the last few years. Good luck, hope you get sorted out.