Emergency prompts call for interactive map of public defibrillators in Leitrim

An emergency in which a defibrillator was needed has prompted a call for a publicly accessible database and interactive map showing the location of all public defibrillators in Leitrim.

The call was made by Cllr Cormac Flynn at November’s meeting of Carrick-on-Shannon Municipal District, where he asked Leitrim County Council to establish and maintain a publicly accessible database and interactive map of all registered publicly accessible defibrillators across the county.

“The database should be used to identify geographical areas with inadequate defibrillator coverage and assist the council and community groups in targeting future investment to address these gaps,” his motion stated.

Cllr Flynn told the meeting that the idea arose after a neighbour experienced a medical emergency and needed a defibrillator, but did not know where the nearest one was located.

He said the ideal outcome would be that, at some stage, people could simply search for a defibrillator on Google Maps and be immediately directed to their nearest one.

“There are loads of defibrillators but not everyone knows where they are,” he said.

The motion received unanimous support from the councillors present.

In an official response, the council noted that Leitrim PPN is working with the National Ambulance Service and community groups across Leitrim to ensure that defibrillators in the county are registered with the Ambulance Service.

This registration process involves providing information such as the exact location of each device, any access code required, the device type and age, and details of its inspection and maintenance schedule.

“The purpose of this campaign is to ensure that the National Ambulance Service, as the first point of contact in an emergency, has accurate information on the location and accessibility of defibrillators in Leitrim,” stated the reply.

“The first point of contact in an emergency should be to call the emergency services on 999 or 112 where the call-taker can send help and provide directions to the nearest defibrillator,” the reply concluded.

Defibrillators in Leitrim can be viewed at https://leitrimdefib.wordpress.com/