A fully-automated defibrillator has recently been purchased for our Masonic Centre in Hinckley partly through the proceeds of our Christmas Party Night. Having such a high-tech resource it is clearly common sense to ensure we have members available who can back this up with some knowledge of it's use and the associated technique of cardiopulmonary resusitation, or more commonly CPR.
We have therefore run our first training session designed to give our members the necessary knowledge to enable them to put these skills into practice in the unfortunate situation where some one may possibly be suffering cardiac arrest on the premises. Accordingly around twenty "volunteers" attended this evening session under the expert tuition of Nigel Matthews. The evening session was both very informative but also fun even taking into account the seriousness of the potential situation that we were contemplating. As the building is multi-occupied, Simon Green and two of his regular staff, from The Green Rooms were also invited to participate as they could also face a similar situation when our equipment could also be called upon.
The defibrillator itself is located within the foyer of the Lodge room on the first floor and is easily recognisable. It is fully automatic and gives audible and visible instructions during use. However, as we learnt during our training, it stands alongside CPR to be most effective. Additionally in all cases, the first priority is to summon the help, via a 999 call, of the professionals who on arrival at the scene can take over from whoever is administering CPR and defibrillation; these things together can result in recovery of up to 75% of patients, without CPR and defibrillation the chance of recovery is dramatically reduced to somewhere around 10%. Speed of response in all cases is vital: if you are faced with this situation, then dial 999, start CPR and bring the defibrillator into use.
It is likley that further sessions will be arranged at Hinckley, the more Members are involved the better; you might save a life.