Fears about litigation have been deterring people unnecessarily from volunteering for life-saving medical training, according to Croí, the west of Ireland car-diology foundation.
However, considered legal opinion suggests that there is "no likelihood" of a successful insurance claim against a volunteer if he or she has received approved training, Croí's chief executive Neil Johnson said yesterday in Galway.
In any event, Croí has secured agreement on provision of personal indemnity and a medical malpractice cover for volunteers, as part of its new Lifeline project.
The first of its type in the State, Lifeline aims to increase the availability of defibrillators (life-saving devices) in the west and to train lay volunteers in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation.
The organisation had been training volunteers in defibrillator use on a pilot basis, but the scheme is being extended across the region under strict medical protocols, Mr Johnson says.
Emer Burke, a full-time co-ordinator, has been appointed to oversee the scheme, which is linked to the cardiology department at University College Hospital, Galway.
A defibrillator is a device which can administer a life-saving shock to the heart of a cardiac arrest victim to restart normal rhythm.
They are now being manufactured for just under €3,000, specifically for use by non-medical lay people. Certification involves a six-hour training course.
Croí cites north American and British studies which have shown that the number of lives saved increases by up to 30-40 per cent, where defibrillators are readily available in the hands of trained volunteers. Currently, the survival rate from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is less than 1 per cent in Ireland.
Since the co-ordinator's appointment, Croí has set up 21 new defibrillator sites, ranging from sports clubs to secondary schools, supermarkets and workplaces throughout the west. Some 163 volunteers have been trained in the Heartsaver AED (automated external defibrillator) programme and almost 200 members of the general public in the Family and Friends CPR programme.
The project has been endorsed by Donal McAnallen, brother of GAA footballer Cormac McAnallen, who died suddenly three years ago on March 2nd, 2004.
It has also been welcomed by Dr Jeff King of the Irish Pre-hospital Emergency Care Council, and Brendan Cavanagh, project co-ordinator of the Sudden Cardiac Death National Strategy.
Croí chairman Ray Rooney paid tribute the work of Croí since its foundation more than 10 years ago. It spearheaded the development of the cardiac ambulance service and the Croí cardiac ambulance, a mobile coronary care unit, is the first of its kind in the State.
"This project is a logical extension of our work, now focusing on what people can do themselves while waiting for the emergency services to arrive," Mr Rooney said.
Mr Johnson appealed to the Government yesterday to remove VAT on defibrillators and said there was a case for Government sponsorship of training, for which individuals currently paid out of their own pocket.
