Municipality has installed four new defibrillators around the city and a portable one, all of which will be used only by trained staff as part of an effort to save lives when access to a hospital may not be immediate.
The defibrillators have been installed at the Town Hall, the municipality’s Technical Services Offices, the Municipal Swimming Pool and the old Municipal Market. Also every Wednesday, during the operational hours of the market near the ‘Oxi’ roundabout, there would be somebody with a portable defibrillator patrolling the area to cover any possible problems that occur. Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou said that only trained personnel would be allowed to use the medical equipment to ensure there was no misuse. “This is the first series in this programme and it is expected that after the summer more defibrillators will be installed in highly concentrated areas,” she said.
To undertake the operation of the defibrillators, 17 people have been trained by cardiologist and pathologist Dr. Piero Georgiou and expert Marios Kaissi. Andreas Karagiorgis, a health and safety officer, explained that the employees would have to have previous experience in first aid and would therefore be able to tell the difference between cardiac arrest and a mere fainting incident. Ioannis Leontiou instructor for the European Resuscitation Council said that according to the law, the trainees will have to retake tests every year to ensure that they are up to standards. Furthermore, some of the regulations will have to be amended in order to coincide with EU standards.
Costas Antoniades, head of the accident and emergency department at the Nicosia general hospital said that the training was quite easy. “But if a person doesn’t know how to handle it, it can be really dangerous, and amongst other things, can cause heart irregularities. If the person is conscious when you do it, it’s like getting an electric shock,” he said. Cardiac arrest can happen at any time and can occur without symptoms, even to people who do not have a history of heart problems.
The municipality said an effective and instantaneous response to this “deadly and silent enemy” was defibrillation, which restores the natural rhythm of the heart. Clinical studies have shown that when victims of cardiac arrest are given immediate defibrillation, there is a 90 per cent increase in their chances of survival. Leontiou explained that the quantity and quality of training needs to be high to ensure that out of hospital incidents do not result in death.
(Cyprus Mail)
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