A new company specialises in preventing sudden cardiac death at home and in the community through the use of portable defibrillators.

The Defib Centre Ltd, based in Sussex, distributes information on sudden cardiac death, CPR training kits and the UK-manufactured HeartSine Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

Sudden cardiac arrest kills more than 2,000 people in the UK every week - more people than lung cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined. These facts led Robin Shepherd, former Channel 5 and BBC1 Watchdog expert broadcaster, to set up The Defib Centre.

"A cardiac arrest will completely drain the life from someone within 10 minutes," Shepherd said. "But instead of standing by and watching that happen, with a little training and an essential, affordable, easy-to-use piece of equipment, you can improve their chance of survival dramatically."

"If an automated external defibrillator (AED) is used alongside cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within the first 5 minutes of an attack, the survival rate goes up from less than 5% to over 60%."

The HeartSine AED is designed for ease of use: at the size of a portable radio, with a 5-year battery life, it has only two buttons to press and no heavy paddles to wave about. A study showed that a group of 12-year-olds who had never seen an AED before successfully delivered a shock in just 23 seconds longer than trained paramedics.

Shepherd concluded: "Ask if there's an AED in your gym, in your school, at your workplace, and if there isn't, suggest that they get one. Our aim is to make AEDs available everywhere and for everyone, next to every fire extinguisher in the country."

 
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