Published: 20/09/2021, 13:30

Putting safety top of the list: NDC Operations Manager runs Automatic Emergency Defibrillator familiarisation sessions

 

 

A big thank you to Matt Gilson, our Wolverhampton National Distribution Centre (NDC) Operations Manager, who recently carried out a series of familiarisation sessions for our staff on how to use the onsite Automatic Emergency Defibrillator (AED) units. We have two AEDs at the NDC, which have been in place for three years.

 

Matt had been planning to do the familiarisation sessions for a while, but they were pushed to the top of the list following Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest whilst playing in this year’s Euros. “That event certainly acted as a reminder” comments Matt. “In my volunteer role I have seen first-hand how important it is to get an AED to someone who is suffering a cardiac arrest. Chances of cardiac arrest survival if an AED is present and applied and used in one minute is 90% which reduces to 10% in nine minutes, so you can see how it makes a major difference.”

 

Around 80 people attended the AED familiarisation sessions organised by Matt, which covered all three shifts at our NDC in Wolverhampton. Matt was keen to get across a key point: “you don’t need to be trained to use these. The devices are only designed to shock when somebody’s heart is in fibrillation thus requiring de-fibrillation. However, statistics show that 40% of bystanders wouldn’t use one due to not knowing how to. It was important to make this point; I wanted to show them the unit so they would be comfortable with the use, the look and feel of it.”

 

The sessions were very well received and Matt was impressed at the high level of engagement, with plenty of questions being asked.

 

Matt believes every company should have an AED on site and, where possible, available to the wider community: “I think for the additional cost, companies should try and also make them available to the general public by purchasing an extra one to be mounted externally or in the local community.”

 

 

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