This article is from page 31 of the 2008-09-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 31 JPG
THE community of Whitegate was this week celebrating having 32 peo- ple trained in the use of a defibrilla- tor which could save lives.
But even while they were marking the marvellous response from local people in raising enough money to cover the cost of training, insurance, and equipment to house and secure the precious machine, the commu- nity was making plans which could mean they never have to use it.
Trained volunteers and supporters enjoyed a function last week to mark the fact that the money had been raised and cheques handed over.
“We want to make people heart
aware and promote a healthy life- style and that’s part of what we are using the money that we raised for”, said chairwoman of the defibrillator committee. Mary Cusack.
To that end, there will be a walk, blood pressure clinic and happy-heart nutrition advice session in Whitegate on October 5.
The machine itself was bought along with an identical machine for Mountshannon but initially, there were just two people in Whitegate who knew how to use it on a joint roster with Mountshannon.
“We wanted to go our own way and have as many people trained as a possible . We are linked into the Irish Heart Foundation, the gardai,
the ambulance service and the local GP, all the necessary services.”
Mary says the hardest thing was to “get the on-call part right. We have six people trained 1n a local company Molloys, we have people trained in the pub, the post office and the shop. If a call comes during the day then people will automatically know who is available to drop everything and answer it.”
As part of the awareness campaign, local schoolchildren were asked to draw a picture of their understanding of what a defibrillator does.
“They were marvellous – they all knew what it does and the drawings were fantastic’, said Mary.
On October 5, locals are invited
to come along to the clubhouse in Whitegate to have their blood-pres- sure tested and then to take part in a healthy 4 mile walk as part of World el tam (oe
A trained local nutritionist will also be on hand to give advice about foods that will keep hearts healthy.
“Tt’s won’t be a formal sort of thing, with someone standing on a stage giving a lecture. She’s just going to give a talk and any one who wants to ask questions 1s welcome to do that. People can do the clinic the walk and the talk or any one of the three that they want. We want to promote heart health and hopefully, we’ll never get a call for the defibrillator’, said Mary.