FROM THE FIELD

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Pictured with the Minster for Defence, Mr. Willie O'Dea T.D. at the launch of 10 new ambulances for the Irish Red Cross at The Millstream, University of Limerick is Ms. Hilary Parkinson – PRO for the Limerick Area, Dr. Andrew Kelly – ADU for Co. Limerick, Minister O'Dea, and Mr. Fintan Breen – Unit Officer for Limerick City
Irish Redcross

1. The Irish Red Cross has invested over Euro 3 million in upgrading and expanding its ambulance fleet since a programme of renewal got underway around the country in 2002.
2. The new national plan to deal with emergencies that arise \x96 the National Emergency Framework \x96 sets out the role of the Irish Red Cross, alongside the statutory emergency back-up services of the Defence Forces and Civil Defence.
3. To meet the needs of emergencies today, in line with the National Emergency Framework and local or regional emergency plans, the Irish Red Cross undertook this extensive ambulance and equipment programme.
4. The ambulance replacement programme will increase the organisation's ability to deal with new kinds of emergencies that require faster responses and the ability to reach more remote areas, by introducing \x96 for the first time \x96 a mobile command and control unit and off-road vehicles, as well as traditional ambulances and minibuses.
5. The Irish Red Cross is the most widely recognised provider of First Aid training in Ireland.
6. One of the most acute and dangerous conditions in Ireland is cardiac arrest, the Irish Red Cross has doubled its cardiac arrest response capacity in the last three years.
7. Evidence shows that for each minute's delay in delivering a shock to a casualty in cardiac arrest (ventricular fibrillation) there is a 10% reduction in survival rates.
8. Ireland has one of the highest rates of cardiac mortality in Europe (fourth-highest)
9. 18 people die in out of hospital cardiac arrest in Ireland every day \x96 that's 6,000 people a year \x96 estimates indicate that as many as half of these could be saved with the swift application of a defibrillator.
10. In 2006, the Irish Red Cross launched its "Cross Out Day" campaign to provide defibrillators to groups of people who are not Red Cross members in clubs and communities around Ireland.

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]