Organisations with life-saving defibrillators are being asked to register their information with a website aimed at plotting the location of every machine across the UK.

The site, www.defibfinder.org, will give fast, accurate information about defibrillators in an attempt to save the lives of thousands of cardiac arrest victims.

Defibfinder.org has been set up by a not for profit company based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, following a successful scheme in the town to install defibrillators. The organisation, run by 20 volunteers, wants defibrillators in every community across the country.

Adrian Lewis, who has spearheaded the Leamington Spa trials, said: “The whole town has got behind the scheme and we now want people across the UK to register their defibrillators, which will then be plotted using post codes and geo-tagging.

Defibfinder.org says defibrillators are now being installed all over the UK, in shops, offices, schools, public buildings and even in the old red telephone boxes, but unless people know
where they are, heart attacks will still cause unnecessary deaths at the rate of 94,000 a year.

“It wlll take just seconds to find the nearest defibrillator on our site and could mean the difference between life and death,” said Adrian. “This is a real attempt, by a serious, dedicated group of volunteers, to bring some order to the situation.”

The website, which also helps communities with information about installing defibrillators and raising money for them, emphasises that people should dial 999 before searching for a
defibrillator.

Defibfinder.org has also launched familiarity training for the machines and is hopinig to fund its activities by training shop and office employees. During the jubilee holiday over 50 people were
trained to use a defibrillator and perform CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

“Training for these machines is simple and anyone from seven to seventy plus can use them. Good quality CPR and defibrillation can incease survival rates from 5% to 50%,” added Adrian.

August 2, 2012