Essential life-saving defibrillator installed outside community hall

A COMMUNITY centre in Newcastle have installed a life-saving defibrillator on the external wall of the building.

St Finian’s Community Hall in Newcastle Village have installed the defibrillator on the outside of the centre, which is secured in its own cabinet and is electronically heated and temperature controlled in case of an emergency in the community.

Chairperson of the Newcastle Lyons Development Trust, Michael Maher, told The Echo: “We were initially looking to put an external defibrillator for the community in one of the old Irish telephone boxes but that was not possible, so we have the defibrillator on the external wall of the community centre.

“We just want to let our own people in Newcastle know and be aware that it is there because there are a lot of new houses and residents who wouldn’t be down there on a regular basis.”

Michael says he hopes that the defibrillator, which was given to the community by South Dublin County Council, will be there in the case of an emergency within the community and will help save lives.

“There is a defibrillator internally in the hall but that is not much use as the hall is not in use by the local community because of Covid, so if there was a case that somebody collapsed at the hall that would be closed, so that’s why we wanted the external one,” Micheal explained.

“We had a long discussion as to whether or not people should ring for the access code or just put it up and take a chance that people would be community spirited enough not to interfere with it.

“If some poor person was to collapse, somebody would then have to make a phone call to get the access code and in these situations, every second counts so we actually put up a notice board informing people of the code,” said Michael.

Along with the code information, the notice board details that it is a criminal offence to interfere with a defibrillator and that it is monitored by CCTV cameras.

Many local sports clubs and communities have been prompted to install additional defibrillators at their facilities and undergo first responder training after the widely publicised collapse of Denmark football player Christian Eriksen during the European Championship match in June.

Michael said that the defibrillator is “essential” for the community: “It was badly needed for the community, and it is important that people know it is there. There have been some incidences within our local community in which GAA players have collapsed.

“We had planned on doing CPR classes in the community centre free of charge when the defibrillator was installed but unfortunately that is on hold due to Covid, but we will do it in the future.”