• SCA is the UK’s biggest killer
• SCA kills more people that AIDS, Breast Cancer and Lung Cancer combined
• SCA strike anyone, anytime, anywhere and without warning

 

AEDs = 10 x more survival

 

An AED used with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) improves ten-fold the chances of surviving sudden cardiac arrest:

• CPR alone = 5% survival
• AED+CPR = 50% survival

 

Restart the Heart works to promote initiatives that support public-access defibrillation, aiming to complement emergency services; facilitating timely and effective treatment of SCA.

How to locate your nearest AED

Arrhythmia Alliance has partnered with AED Locator to build a nationwide database of public-access defibrillators.  Visit AED Locator, type in your postcode and see where your nearest AED is located. 

Add your AED to the database

Do you have an AED that’s not on the map?  Share access to your AED to maximise the number of lives saved.

Visit AED Locator to register your own AED

 

You may already have an AED which you might want to display for the general public and community to use or you may be about to install a new AED in your street, village, business premises, sports ground, home or community.  To add your public-access defibrillator (PAD) to the national database please complete the registration form at AED Locator.

For news on recent AED additions to the database please click here.

Download all you need to know to install a public-access AED in your community click here.

Healthy Schools AED Education Programme

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the UK’s biggest killer and can strike anyone, at any age, without warning.  Many of the lives lost to SCA each year could have been saved if an AED were available and used at the scene to restore a normal heart rhythm.  Our Healthy Schools programme provides CPR and defibrillator education and the placements of life-saving AEDs in schools to help prevent avoidable deaths from SCA.

At the very least, Arrhythmia Alliance can help your school to place an AED on the premises, ensuring life-saving equipment is available to all those in your community.

If your school might be interested in joining this initiative to enhance its status as a Healthy School please contact us at info@heartrhythmcharity.org.uk or call us on 01789 450787.

Equipping our children with the skills and knowledge to save lives

Arrhythmia Alliance is supporting the Government’s Healthy Schools programme by rolling out a Healthy Schools AED Education Programme. A successful pilot at Shipston High School proved the programme to be valuable to the education and health of the children and the wider school community. The programme supports improved pupil achievement, whilst ensuring awareness of sudden cardiac arrest and familiarity with the use of CPR and AEDs to save lives.

 

The Healthy Schools AED Education Programme offers a range of resources from which a bespoke package can be assembled to match the needs and resources of each school. The resources include:

• Educational resources
• Mini-Anne CPR training kits and videos
• Presentations
• Lesson plans

Our educational resources include a 'What is an AED' booklet aimed at 7-11 year olds, 'How the Heart Works' and 'How to Take Your Pulse' information sheets.  Click on the links to download your own copy.

If your school might be interested in joining this initiative to enhance its status as a Healthy School please contact us at info@heartrhythmcharity.org.uk or call us on 01789 450787.

Arrhythmia Alliance is proud to introduce the ‘Mini-Anne Self Directed CPR & AED Skills Learning Programme’, the first of its kind!

With a fully interactive DVD, the self-directed Mini-Anne CPR & AED kit allows individuals to learn the core skills of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in less than an hour.

The kit includes the complete set of apparatus needed to simulate the process of performing CPR and using an AED; from identifying a patient in need of medical assistance to the arrival of the emergency services.

The interactive DVD is a revolutionary method of teaching these life-saving skills. It employs a unique “watch and do” technique where the user can practice CPR (30 compressions: 2 breaths) on a personal manikin (Mini-Anne) and learn how to use an AED.

The Mini-Anne CPR & AED Kit is suitable for people of all ages and levels of prior knowledge, providing an invaluable source of AED training and demonstration. The information given is clear, concise and easy to follow and is complimentary to additional AED training that may be supplied (either by the ambulance service or medical professional). In addition to this, trained personnel may also benefit from the kit as a means of providing refresher training.

For more information or to order your own Mini-Anne kit, please email info@heartrhythmcharity.org.uk or call on 01789 450787.

AED Locator’s 24/7 HeartSafeTM Cabinets

Working in partnership with Arrhythmia Alliance, AED LOCATOR is dedicated to promoting the placement of Public Access Defibrillators (PADs) in HeartSafeTM Cabinets, with 24 hour access so that life saving emergency defibrillators are available to everyone wherever they are required when a cardiac arrest is suspected.

AEDs are housed in secure, weatherproof cabinets on the exterior walls of buildings, such as a post office or village hall. The life saving defibrillators can be clearly identified by their prominent cabinets, which are keypad locked for security.

In the event of an emergency a person dials ‘999’. The operator assesses the situation and, if appropriate, provides the caller with the combination code to access the AED. The operator will only release the code if a SCA is suspected and there is a second person on scene who can retrieve the AED from the cabinet. The operator will remain on the telephone to support the caller through CPR and defibrillation. Meanwhile emergency services are dispatched to the scene.

The scheme operates in partnership with the ambulance service. The ambulance service records the cabinet location and access code on its control system, so that operators can enable members of the general public, responding to a suspected SCA, to access the AED 24 hours a day.

In villages and towns where CFR schemes already exist, the 24:7 HeartSafeTM cabinet scheme is intended to enhance and compliment their service provision. In areas where CFRs aren’t in operation, the scheme can be used as a tool for establishing a CFR team and recruiting new volunteers.

The 24:7 HeartSafeTM cabinet is a revolutionary concept that is new to the UK, with the first such scheme being launched as recently as 2007. It takes the government’s public access defibrillation policy to the next level by allowing all members of the general public, regardless of training, to access life-saving equipment.

For more information, visit www.aedlocator.org

An AED for all in the heart of Bath

9 May 2012 – Bath.  Public-access defibrillator installed at home of Bath Rugby, the Recreation Ground.  Read more.

 

Is Jersey the safest island?

4 May 2012 – Jersey.  Jersey now has 131 defibrillators across the island and is one of the most HeartSafe places in the British Isles. Read more.

 

Another public-access defibrillator for Chew Valley

26 March 2012 – West Harptree, Bristol. New HeatSafe defibrillator now located at the front entrance to the Blue Bowl Inn on the outskirts of West Harptree village and about 14 miles south of Bristol. Read more.

 

Radstock near Bath gets HeartSafe AED

28 February 2012 – Radstock, Bath.  Donations from the Co-operative Store and Somer Valley Rotary Club have financed the installation of a HeartSafe public-access defibrillator in Radstock, near Bath.  Read more.

 

Penzance in Cornwall becomes HeartSafe

7 February 2012 – Penzance.  North Pier in the village of Newlyn in Penzance, Cornwall has become HeartSafe following donation of a life-saving defibrillator in a secure weatherproof HeartSafe cabinet; the first HeartSafe cabinet to become operational in Cornwall! Read more.

 

Public access defibrillator for Stratford-upon-Avon College

7 February 2012 – Stratford-upon-Avon.  Stratford-upon-Avon College in Warwickshire is now HeartSafe.  The college attracts about 5000 students a year supported by about 450 staff. Anyone at the College will now have the peace of mind that a defibrillator is immediately available should somebody suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. Read more.

 

Blackwell Business Park in Warwickshire gets AED to become HeartSafe

24 January 2012 - Shipston-on-Stour. Local business park gets public-access AED following donations from businesses on the park and residents of Blackwell village.  Read more.

 

Barford in the West Midands gets public access defibrillator

20 January 2012 – Barford, Warwickshire.  An AED has been installed in the car park of Barford Village Shop in Church Street, Warwickshire. Read more.

 

AED education in Oxfordshire village

6 June 2011 – Hook Norton, Oxfordshire.  A public session to teach people how to use recently installed life-saving defibrillators was held on Monday 6 June in the Oxfordshire village of Hook Norton. Click to download news release.

 

Village gets life-saving equipment to patch emergency gap

8 April 2011 – Armscote, Warwickshire.  Arrhythmia Alliance donates AED for Armscote and surrounding communities, which are beyond the eight-minute travel time of an emergency ambulance.  Read story at Cotswold Journal. Click to download news release.

 

Life-Saving Defibrillator Installed at Shipston’s Leisure Centre

April 2011 – Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire.  Life-saving heart defibrillator installed at Shipston Leisure Centre. Click to download news release.

 

St John Ambulance to place a further 18 defibrillators in Jersey

25 March 2011 – Jersey. St John Ambulance in Jersey is delighted to announce that following a kind donation from a local benefactor it has been able to purchase and deploy a further 18 defibrillator heart start machines in Jersey. This will bring the total on the island to 115. Click to download news release.

 

Arrhythmia Alliance teaches local children how to save a life

2 February 2011 – Tamworth - Children at a West Midlands School taught how to perform emergency treatment using life-saving CPR and AED.  The children took part in the workshop led by Arrhythmia Alliance as part of their Health Heart Enrichment programme. Click to download news release.

 

The DIY shock treatment that can kick-start a stopped heart

22 February 2011 – Blackpool. ‘Before I knew it, I’d blacked out. The next thing I remember is people standing around me in Blackpool Hospital. Tracy later told me I’d started to go blue, collapsed on the ground unconscious and stopped breathing.’ Read story at Daily Mail.

 

School children learn life-saving skills

30 June 2010 – Shipston-on-Stour.  Arrhythmia Alliance in collaboration with the West Midlands Ambulance Service recently trained 70 children at Shipston High School on awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, and how to administer first aid using CPR AEDs. Click to download news release.