Inspirational clubs hit fundraising targets for new defibrillator units
Ballymun Kickhams PRO Cathal Roche (left) with club Chairperson, Paul Ashton, and the defibrillator recently purchased by the club through the GAA's Community Heart Programme.
Clubs in all four provinces are starting to hit their fundraising targets for new defibrillator units through the Community Heart Programme.
As more than €45,000 has been donated recently by clubs across Ireland for new defibrillator units in their communities, one club has told how they were sparked into action when they checked their existing unit and realised it was not working.
Siobhán McDonagh is a GP and club member with Bearna Furbo hurling and camogie club. She told gaa.ie the recent defibrillator awareness campaign and Community Heart Programme, came at the right time for them.
In the last few days, the club have hit their target of fundraising for two new defibrillator units, and they have joined up with the football club in Bearna as well as soccer and athletics to get cross-community support.
She said: “There is a defibrillator there but when we checked it, we realised that it needed to be replaced.
“We had started to talk about it and weren’t sure how we were going to organise the fundraising for it and then saw the GAA initiative and the Community Heart Programme so we jumped on it.
“I really like the fact that the scheme is called the Community Heart Programme because it is the whole community that benefits by it being there.
“I know that heart incidents do not discriminate and can happen right across the age range. It would have been awful for us if something had happened in our club and there was not a defibrillator there.”
A regular stream of communication to club members has focused the minds and helped zero in on their target amount in recent weeks and which will result in a unit being in the community sports facility as well as in the GAA pitch in Bearna.
Siobhan added: “We have got support from the whole community and have put it into the parish messages as well as Facebook posts and WhatsApp. Every time a post goes up about it as a reminder, we got a few more donations through.”
Clubs involved in the Community Heart Programme can get a LIFEPAK CR2 AED as shown in this photograph.
The issue of replacing an old unit is a story common to Dublin county champions Ballymun Kickhams who last week took charge of a new defibrillator that replaces a unit that was 20 years old.
Cathal Roche is a club member in Ballymun and also has 24 years’ experience working with Dublin Fire Brigade and has seen how crucial they are.
He says: “Having a working defibrillator is one of the most important links in the chain for survival.
“Everyone knows someone who has had a heart attack. Having the knowledge of good CPR and having a defibrillator unit is crucial and we were delighted to be able to get a new unit.”
Cathal was club chairperson 20 years ago when the existing AED was sourced through a charity fundraising initiative driven by a local heart attack survivor who had his life saved by a defibrillator. Although it was never thankfully needed for an emergency, Ballymun ensured it was checked, serviced and maintained regularly and also used in the CPR training for club members.
The GAA’s Community Heart Programme gave them a chance to secure a 2021 upgrade on the 2001 model.
Cathal added: “We were able to raise the money for the new unit in a matter of days thanks to a couple of tweets and then the use of Facebook and Instagram.”
His advice is to be aware that the units will need to be checked and kept in perfect working order. “It is important they are serviced. It is a piece of equipment and like a car, if it is serviced and maintained it will stay in good condition.”
Leixlip GAA in Kildare have also successfully fundraised enough for two units recently. Leixlip GAA Healthy Club officer Richard Shanahan has been overwhelmed by the local response and explained they wanted to make sure their units were available outdoors 24/7.
He told gaa.ie: “The main message for me is the more AEDs that are easily accessible means people who have cardiac arrests in the community have a greater chance of survival. As the comunity heart program states; 42 lives have been saved by GAA AEDs and by increasing the number of AEDs out there will only increase this number going forward.
“We are in hard times with many people out of work, but the goodwill and generosity of people donating for this cause overwhelmed me in Leixlip. Using email, social media and local press were very successful in us reaching our target.
“One of my healthy club initiatives was to raise awareness of the importance of CPR and the use of AEDs. From this I had two goals. Firstly to have an AED at both our sites. When I took over as health and wellbeing coordinator both our AEDs were on one site; one in our club bar and the other accessible outside. It was felt we didn’t need two situated so close together, so we moved it to our second site. My second goal was to have as many of our members trained in CPR and AED use. The unit at our clubhouse is accessible 24 hours to the public however, the second one currently isn’t, so as part of this initiative is to move the AED box to the roadside to make it accessible 24 hours a day.
“When we heard of the community heart program it fitted in very nicely with our own initiative. Leixlip have had two AEDs for more than 10 years so replacing them was advised,” added Richard.
A previous study by DCU some years ago showed that three out of five GAA Clubs had access to a defibrillator unit. The Community Heart Programme helps not only those clubs who do not have a defib, but also supports those that do have units and are looking to follow advice that units older than 10 years should be upgraded.
Secretaries are encouraged to register their club on the Community Heart Programme website to begin the donation process.