16^th December, 2015:

The Bank of Ireland donates 14 defibrillators

to Community First Responders (CFR) schemes around Ireland. This follows on from Bank of Ireland’s successful programme in 2014 where 10 defibrillators were donated around the country.
The 2015 donations were made as part of Bank of Ireland’s, “Be at Your Best” programme where staff hosted a number of fundraising activities including a “Couch to 5k Run”, a Trek in the Dublin Mountains, and various other health-related activities which are aimed at enhancing the fitness and wellbeing of Bank of Ireland staff. Across the different events 1000’s of employees took part and arising from the fundraising success, the Bank made the decision to continue their support of the Community First Responders schemes in 2015, given the valuable, life-saving role played by CFR trained volunteers with access to defibrillators in their local communities.

Defibrillators are small devices that are placed on the chest or abdomen and use electrical pulses or shocks to help control life-threatening arrhythmias, especially those that can cause sudden cardiac arrest. CFR schemes are community groups who work in conjunction with the National Ambulance Service as a first response unit for 999/112 calls for cardiac instances in the area.  Bank of Ireland’s donation will allow the communities who have set up CFR schemes, trained volunteers, and purchased uniforms to get their schemes up and running, with the ultimate goal of saving lives.

Speaking about the donation, Darren Mulligan, Business Continuity Manager, Group Manufacturing, Bank of Ireland said; “We are delighted to be involved in this vital initiative. It has not only created greater awareness among our staff of how simply a life can be saved, but has also given us a chance to give something back to the Community who support us constantly in our business. We are thrilled to be in a position to help them provide such an essential service.”

Locations benefiting from donations of defibrillators include five areas in Louth; Kilkerley, Cooley Peninsula, Ravensdale, West Louth and Castlebellingham / Drumiskin;Tralee,Co. Kerry, Rathcormac, Charleville, and Mallow in Co. Cork; Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan; Castletown, Co. Wexford; Kilmessan, Co. Meath, as well as Malahide and Raheny in Dublin.

John Fitzgerald, CFR Ireland said;

“In Ireland each year, approximately 5,000 die from cardiac arrest. 76% of these cardiac arrests happened in the patients’ homes. In the majority of instances, if cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed and a defibrillator is used on a patient within 3 minutes of going into cardiac arrest, they have a 70% chance of survival, which is why the establishment of CFR groups is so important.

“Currently there are 132 Community First Responder groups across Ireland linked with the National Ambulance Service (NAS). The NAS has the technology to dispatch locally trained CFRs to cardiac emergencies. Given CFRs live and / or work in the communities where they operate, they can be on the scene in minutes and start live-saving procedure while waiting for the arrival of the emergency ambulance.

“All CFR groups are completely voluntary and fundraise to purchase their equipment. In addition to training, the volunteers give up their time to be on call in their communities. Having a defibrillator donated to a group gives it a huge boost and CFR Ireland works constantly with the NAS to extend the reach of locally trained CFR groups, in order to save more lives.

“On behalf of all of the Community First Responder Groups, who received AEDs, CFRIreland would like to thank the employees of Bank of Ireland for partaking in the “Be at Your Best” programme and the subsequent donation of defibrillators. We are extremely grateful for their support.

“These AEDs will save lives.”