15 September 2019
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
As part of a cross-agency initiative between the HSE, National Ambulance Service and An Garda Síochana life-saving heart defilbrators have been successfully installed in Garda stations across Cork County. These include stations in: Bantry, Bandon, Skibberean, Kinsale, Clonakilty, Castletownbere, and Kilbrittain.
HSE meeting with first responder organisations and emergency services at Clonakilty Garda Station.
John Sheehan Photography
HSE meeting with first responder organisations and emergency services at Clonakilty Garda Station.
John Sheehan Photography
The HSE supplied the heart defilbrator devices, while full training co-ordination was conducted by representatives of the National Ambulance Service, local medical staff and trained instructors. In total, 133 Gardaí staff were fully trained as cardiac first responders and 12 Gardaí were trained as instructors to carry out training sessions with other members. West Cork Rapid Response co-ordinated the training and provided essential support in training the trainers.
HSE meeting with first responder organisations and emergency services at Clonakilty Garda Station.
John Sheehan Photography
Gerry O’Dwyer, Group CEO of the South / South West Hospital Group said: “The HSE and South / South West Hospital Group are delighted to team up with the National Ambulance Service and An Garda Síochana to install these life-saving pieces of equipment across Cork County. This initiative highlights how effective cross agency projects can be and we look forward to similar multi-agency partnership projects in the future.”
Brian Murphy, Garda Inspector in Cork said: “This project shows how, communication, co-operation and collaboration between all emergency services delivers for the communities we serve. We are delighted to support our colleagues in NAS, HSE and West Cork Rapid Response. Being part of and in the community is a key role of An Garda Siochana, and ensuring we have the skill set to assist the communities we operate in is vital.”
