Did you know that there are over 120 Defibrillators located across Laois? Yet, very few people know where they are located even though your life may depend on it some day.
In the case of a Cardiac emergency, it is important that a Defibrillator is accessed as quickly as possible, preferably within a 4 minute period of the casualty collapsing.
In November 2018 a working group was established in order to identify the Location and accessibility of Life Saving Cardiac Defibrillators throughout County Laois. The group aims to identify the location of all defibrillators throughout County Laois and to help generate public awareness as to the closest defibrillator, its accessibility and use.
A Facebook Page, Laois Locate a Defib, has been set up to help generate awareness, and to encourage individuals and groups to log the presence of a defibrillator in their local community, workplace or xports Club.
To date 124 defibrillators have been located throughout the county, and the group would like to thank everybody who has made them aware of the location of these defibrillators and logged them through the Facebook page.
They would also like to encourage people to contact them through the Facebook page if anyone is aware of the location of Defibrillators in their area, or is interested in promoting this initiative locally.
A complete list of available defibrillators has now been published on the and these have been registered with the National Ambulance Service so that a simple call to 999 or 112 to activate the Emergency Services will also lead to information as to the closest Defibrillator location to the scene.
Committee member Derek Phelan explained: “We would encourage everyone to note the location of their nearest Defibrillator and to attend training in its use.
“Quite a lot of the defibrillators listed throughout Laois are held in local GAA Clubs, and while this is a fantastic achievement, in most cases these Defibrillators are only available during club training sessions and matches, and are stored in-doors.
“We would encourage all clubs who have a defibrillator to consider making it accessible at all times to both club members and the local community by positioning it outside and making it readily accessible.
“For those who have defibrillators in locked boxes, we would encourage you to using a numerical code and ask that if possible you set that code to the Emergency Services Number of 112, as this code is now being used throughout the county.
“Our main aim here was to provide publicly accessible defibrillators for community access 24/7. Some areas already had this while others had none, for example Portlaoise town had no publicly available defibrillators and now it has 4 available 24/7.
“But, its not sufficient just to provide defibrillators we must make them both available and accessible or otherwise we have not achieved anything.
“Unfortunately we have recently had a case in Laois where a casualty collapsed and was in need of a defibrillator, there were 4 defibrillators in the local area and when members of the public came to assist they could not gain access to any of the defibrillators.
“There are many communities, clubs and businesses throughout Laois doing fantastic work in fundraising and providing Defibrillators, but we must increase awareness and education regarding the need for both availability and accessibility 24/7.
“It is not enough just to have a defibrillator, if it cannot be accessed. We must take ownership of theme as a necessary aspect of our local community, we must know where they are and how to gain access.”
Check out all of the locations below:
