Alison Thewliss, SNP MP for Glasgow Central, showed their support for the Scottish Ambulance Service’s Registration to Resuscitation campaign today. The Service is appealing to communities to register potentially life-saving public access defibrillators on its dedicated website.
Commenting on the campaign, Alison Thewliss MP said,
“Public access defibrillators can be found all over Scotland and are vital pieces of equipment in the crucial early minutes following a cardiac arrest before an ambulance arrives.
“There is currently no legal obligation to register defibrillators, which is why the Scottish Ambulance Service is asking people in Glasgow to ensure they know where these are, so when someone calls 999 they will know where the nearest defibrillator is if it is required.
“I am encouraging leisure facilities, schools, libraries, community centres and other public places with defibrillators in my constituency to register their devices on the Scottish Ambulance Service’s website.
“Everyone else in Glasgow can get involved too by asking whenever they see a defibrillator if it has been registered.”
Launching its Registration to Resuscitation campaign, the Service’s national resilience manager, Murray McEwan, said:
“We are grateful to have Alison Thewliss MP behind our Registration to Resuscitation campaign as we know she works closely with community groups, projects and other organisations in Glasgow.
“When someone experiences a cardiac arrest they are unconscious and not breathing, or not breathing normally, and their life is in immediate danger, which is why these defibrillators are so important.
“If we know where defibrillators are in every community, our call handlers may then be able to direct bystanders to a defibrillator in the event of somebody experiencing a cardiac arrest and talk them through action to take.
“This is a campaign which will help save more lives and everyone can really get behind. We need the custodians who look after these defibrillators to register them on our website.
“We are also working with the manufacturers as well as our partners, community leaders and community first responder groups to register as many of these defibrillators as possible.”