Billingshurst Emergency Assistance Team
: : Billingshurst Emergency Assistance Team Registered Charity No 1119641 - Working in Partnership with South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust : :
© 2010
Billingshurst
Emergency
Assistance
Team
All Rights
Reserved
Billingshurst
Emergency
Assistance
Team
All Rights
Reserved
LATEST
NEWS:
February 2010
BEAT celebrates
its
4th anniversary
As the aim is to constantly expand the scheme and to increase the number of members to the scheme, there will potentially always be a need for more funds. Our primary aim is to ensure that each member has a full medical kit. The benefits of having a kit each are as follows:-
Much greater flexibility with regards to the times when a member can be on call. Although we work within a rota, quite often members might be able to book on-call unexpectedly, outside of the rota. If they did not have a kit to hand, they could not do this.
It is possible that a member could be called by the Ambulance Service, even when not actually booked on call.
Having undergone quite detailed training in life support, and having been trained to use the equipment that we carry, it is quite possible that a member could come across a medical emergency during their normal daily business and be able to help.
We operate a ‘buddy’ system as much as we can, where 2 members will try to attend a call. This would certainly be very useful in a full resuscitation scenario. By having a kit each, it would take into account that one member is bound to arrive on the scene before the other.
Public Access Defibrillators
Public Access Defibrillators or PAD is the system of having a defibrillator in a public place.
This usually entails having an alarmed cabinet in a high profile place, such as a railway concourse, leisure centre or shopping area where trained staff, or any member of the public could access the defibrillator and provide the life saving ‘shock’ needed when a patient goes into cardiac arrest; the equipment is so simple to use that any member of the public could use it should a trained member of staff not be available.
Ambulance call takers, the people you speak to if you have to dial 999, are aware of the placements of PAD sites and would be able to talk you through the use of the equipment should it be necessary.
Hopefully, defibrillators will become commonplace and as familiar as fire extinguishers in every public place.
With the help of funding from West Sussex County Council, BEAT has already set up a PAD site at Billingshurst Village Hall. The group has also received very good feedback regarding setting up a PAD in one of the High Street shops.
This usually entails having an alarmed cabinet in a high profile place, such as a railway concourse, leisure centre or shopping area where trained staff, or any member of the public could access the defibrillator and provide the life saving ‘shock’ needed when a patient goes into cardiac arrest; the equipment is so simple to use that any member of the public could use it should a trained member of staff not be available.
Ambulance call takers, the people you speak to if you have to dial 999, are aware of the placements of PAD sites and would be able to talk you through the use of the equipment should it be necessary.
Hopefully, defibrillators will become commonplace and as familiar as fire extinguishers in every public place.
With the help of funding from West Sussex County Council, BEAT has already set up a PAD site at Billingshurst Village Hall. The group has also received very good feedback regarding setting up a PAD in one of the High Street shops.
We welcome this opportunity to be able to increase further the service we can provide to our community. These new items however represent a cost to the group, and will need to be purchased once additional training is complete.