A golf club in Donegal recently became the first golf club in Ireland to install a solar powered defibrillator cabinet. The unfortunate passing of a Letterkenny golf club member last November while on a golfing trip in Portugal, where he suffered a cardiac arrest, inspired the members of Letterkenny Golf club to install an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) on their course. The club already have an AED available in the Club house but the club believed due to the tragic events in Portugal, there should be greater access to a defibrillator on the course. The harder to access areas especially in far regions of the course would be too far a distance for immediate assistance in the event of a cardiac incident, when time is critical
David Greville of Heartsafety Solutions explained ‘During a cardiac arrest, the chance of survival is reduced by 10% for every minute help is delayed. So it is vital that an AED is located within a couple of minutes of a potential emergency’. Club member Marian Keating said ‘we decided, to install one on the part of the course that is furthest from the clubhouse but this presented a problem in that there is no electricity in that area. On further investigation it was decided to invest in a solar powered defibrillator cabinet. We contacted Hearts.ie who provided the club with all the parameters and installed the defibrillator on the back of our 4th tee box, which was agreed as the best suited location’.
The AED itself is powered by a long-life battery but it’s the storage cabinet that actually requires power. AED’s need to be stored in temperature controlled cabinets that will keep the AED warm during cold weather. The solar powered AED cabinet is also connected to the Internet for 24/7 self-monitoring . It does this by connecting to the ‘SigFox’ network which is a wireless radio network used to connect things to the internet. The benefit of this is that if the cabinet door is opened or if the AED fails a ‘self-test’, then the cabinet will send email alerts to nominated club members. David said ‘the areas of the course furthest from the clubhouse were previously up to 10 minutes travel time to retrieve a defibrillator. Being able to have an AED in this new location greatly improves the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest in Letterkenny Golf Club’.
Connect your AED defibrillator to the internet for automatic monitoring. Ask for more details…
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