The first public access defibrillator in a new housing development has been installed in Meadow Gate, Wicklow Town by Redmond Construction.
With 72% of out of hospital cardiac arrests happening in the home, local voluntary group BEATING HEARTS, were keen to address the availability of defibrillators close to where people live. BEATING HEARTS aim is to encourage developers to place Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in new developments and to lobby government for funding to retrofit existing housing estates.
BEATING HEARTS wish to acknowledge the generous response from local developer Pat Redmond,
who without hesitation agreed to install the first defibrillator in Meadow Gate. Redmond
Construction sought an ESB connection for the AED and installed a specially built access wall making
it accessible to all residents in the estate, at his own cost. This represents the first developer led
installation of an AED in the Wicklow area.
Following a presentation to local government by BEATING HEARTS, Cathaoirleach of Wicklow
Municipal District, Paul O’Brien, discussed the initiative with his colleagues who unanimously agreed
to pass a motion requiring all future housing developments to have a public access defibrillator. The
motion was sent to the Minister for State for Urban Planning & Development, Peter Burke.
Cathoairleach Paul O’Brien along with his fellow Councillors were also instrumental in securing a
grant of €14,000 from their discretionary funding to provide public access defibrillators for existing
housing estates in the East Wicklow District. Expressions of interest are now invited from local
residents associations in relation to installing an AED in their estate. Please forward expressions of
interest to:
Paul O’Brien, Email: pobrien@wicklowcoco.ie Gail Dunne, Email: GDunne@wicklowcoco.ie
Shay Cullen, Email: shaycullen2014@gmail.com Irene Winters, Email: IWinters@wicklowcoco.ie
To mark the first public access defibrillator in a new housing development, BEATING HEARTS invited
local residents along with Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research,
Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, to launch the AED in Meadow Gate, Marlton Road,
Wicklow Town, yesterday, 3rd of February.
The event was well attended and on the day, including attendance by Bridget Sinnott CEO of Irish Heart Foundation and Simon Harris, TD. A life saving demonstration was provided to show residents how to save a life using the new AED /defibrillator.
Please note the founding members of Beating Hearts are:
Chris Daly, Founder, Myrle McElwee Founding member, Claire Hopkins Founding Member and Caroline Mooney, Founding Member. All three founding members Myrtle, Claire and Caroline are still CFR members, and Myrtle is an experienced CFR instructor. We came up with the idea because we were responders to emergencies and became aware of the need for defibrillators in neighbourhoods and communities and we set out to change this and with the aim of saving lives.
