COMMUNITIES are being called on to show off their local Automated External Defibrillators (AED) by West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS).
The ambulance service has launched its Let Us See Your AED social media campaign to encourage the registration of defibrillators, on the British Heart Foundation’s The Circuit.
AEDs are life-saving pieces of equipment used to shock a cardiac arrest patient’s heart.
WMAS Call Assessors use The Circuit to help direct callers to the nearest AED within 500m of where the cardiac arrest is occurring.
If AEDs are not registered on The Circuit, WMAS does not have access to the information such as location and access codes needed to instruct a bystander to the life-saving AED.
WMAS say currently there are at least 2,778 AEDs that are unregistered and not accessible by WMAS.
Paramedic practice and patient safety director, Nick Henry said: “It is vital that we get as many people as possible to register AEDs on The Circuit.
“Having AEDs available to bystanders in a cardiac arrest situation, saves lives.
“However, for us to be able to instruct the caller on how to gain access to these AEDs they must be registered.
“It only takes a few minutes to register and could make all the difference in a life-or-death situation.”
