Council Opens Scheme To Help Communities Maintain Defibrillators

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council has opened applications to reimburse the cost of replacement pads for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) located across the borough.

The initiative follows concerns raised last year about the ongoing costs faced by community groups that maintain the life-saving equipment.

An AED – Defibrillator is a compact, portable device, which can be used on an individual where it has been recognised that they have had a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA).

A motion brought forward by DUP councillor Bill Kennedy at the council’s Corporate Policy and Resources Committee highlighted the financial pressure on local organisations acting as guardians of AEDs, with replacement pads and batteries proving difficult to fund.

Speaking at the time, DUP councillor Tanya Elder, who presented the motion in Councillor Kennedy’s absence, said the proposed funding pot was explicitly aimed at supporting the upkeep of existing defibrillators.

“What I have found is that, on occasion, somebody went to use the defibrillator and the pads hadn’t been replaced,” she said. “Every second counts. Ideally, a person should be one minute away from a machine, and using a defibrillator can raise survival rates from 5% to 50%.”

Councillor Elder added that some community associations had been forced to replace pads multiple times within a short period, describing the costs as significant.