South Western Ambulance Charity | Save A Heart Appeal

£400,000 Save A Heart Appeal Launched!

Help us fund 288 life-saving automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for our volunteer Community First Responders (CFRs) to support local communities across the South West.

Every second counts when someone's heart stops (goes into cardiac arrest). In the UK, only 1 in 10 people who have a cardiac arrest outside of hospital, survive.

Once in cardiac arrest, for every minute that passes a person loses a further 10% chance of survival.

When someone has a cardiac arrest, the heart stops and blood is no longer being pumped around their body. The longer they go without emergency life-support, the harder it is to restart their heart. Rapid access to CPR and a defibrillator is vital.

An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a device used to give an electric shock to help restart a patient’s heart when they are in cardiac arrest. They are carried by our local volunteer Community First Responders (CFRs) and we want to upgrade them to new Zoll AEDs.

Why Do CFRs Need New Defibrillators?

The benefits that the upgraded Zoll AEDs offer are:

- Better clinical decision making. Display rhythm traces are available on the Zoll AEDs that help to better inform remote clinical support advice. More information helps clinicians to make better decisions about what additional resources are needed for this patient.

- Better for use on children. The Zoll AEDs have both paediatric and adult pads, and paediatric and adult setting to change the Joules in the shock given.

- Time saved when every second counts. Zoll AEDs are used by the core South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) crews. If the volunteer CFR also uses a Zoll AED and pads then this saves time when transferring the patient to the SWASFT crew. The pads on the patient will no longer need to be replaced, meaning 'one-patient one-set-of-pads', and a quicker transfer.

- Increased CFR availability. SWASFT crews will be able to provide a volunteer CFR with a replacement set of pads for their defibrillator, meaning no need to visit a station to restock, keeping the CFR operational and available to support patients.

- Saved money and waste. Replacement pads and batteries for the Zoll AEDs are much cheaper. Using one set of pads on a patient, instead of swapping them, reduces waste to landfill.

- Future Improvements. Case Review is included on the Zoll AED, enabling advance learning from cardiac arrests to inform future practice to help influence survival rates.

Support our Save A Heart Appeal.
Fund a Defibrillator. Save Lives.

Each defibrillator costs in the region of £1389.

We need to raise over £400,000 to buy 288 AEDs.

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