Gracehill Old School Trust have provided a new Cardiac Defibrillator for the community thanks to funding from Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

It has now been commissioned and registered with the Ambulance service and is sited in a locked cabinet placed on the wall of the Old School building at the entrance to the Primary School.

In the event of someone collapsing the defibrillator may be accessed by telephoning 999 and the access code will be provided.

The defibrillator is a model known as an Intelligent Public Access Defibrillator (IPAD) and it is an easy-to-use Fully Automated External Defibrillator (AED) that is small, light, and portable, and uses a battery.

It can be used by anyone and no special training is required.

It is suitable for use on children and adults.

Having obtained and opened the defibrillator case the “On” switch should be pressed and the device will issue instruction as to how to proceed.

Once connected to the patient the device automatically reads the patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG) and determines if a cardiac arrest that requires defibrillation has occurred.  In this case the device delivers an electric shock automatically.

Cardiac arrest can occur anytime to anyone at any place and may threaten the patient’s life if the appropriate CPR and/or electric shock with a defibrillator are not applied within a few minutes.