South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS
Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is supporting a national campaign,
‘Shoctober’, throughout October to hunt down life-saving
defibrillators.

SECAmb
is asking people to #FindTheDefib
and tweet their selfies next to them to @SECAmbulance and
@SECAmbulanceCFR to
locate life-saving machines that have been bought with good
intentions but aren’t registered with the Trust.

It is essential for ambulance services
to be aware of the locations of all public defibrillators (AEDs) in
their area in order for Emergency Medical Advisors to direct 999
callers to them in the event of a nearby cardiac arrest.

A cardiac arrest occurs when person’s heart
stops pumping blood around their body and to their brain. The
earlier someone receives treatment in the form of CPR and a shock
from a defibrillator the greater their chance of survival.

SECAmb Community Partnership Lead,
Malcolm Legg said: “We really want people to get behind this
campaign. It’s vital that every single public access defibrillator
is registered on our system so that we can direct 999 callers to
them to be used in the event of a cardiac arrest.

“It’s a fun way to raise awareness of
an important issue. Whenever you see a defibrillator grab your
phone and take a selfie, even if you think it’s one we already know
about. Send us as much information you can about the location and
we can check it against our database.”

AEDs are easy to use, easy to carry and won’t
deliver a shock unless it is required. There is no clinical
training required to be able to use the machine.

The location of AEDs can sometimes be marked
with a sign showing a white heart on a green background, or they
could just be mounted on a wall behind bars, in corridors, gyms,
leisure centres, offices, tourist attractions, schools, colleges,
restaurants, coffee shops – anywhere at all!

If you don’t tweet you can also send a photo
to pad@secamb.nhs.uk. And if
you don’t want to send a photo just email the location details and
we’ll make sure the device is logged and ready to use in the event
of an emergency.