By Chris Elliott……..
Richard Beale who writes many sport articles about Esentepe has alerted us to an appeal for help regarding 5 Esentepe and Tatlisu area defibrillators.
I can well recall when I was at the Girne State Hospital (16th February 2012) on behalf of the Cyprus Observer newspaper and I met many of the participants of the fund-raising event and to hear how, as the result of the death of a local woman and knowing a defibrillator may have saved her life, they were inspired to raise money for the purchase of some defibrillators. and around 15,000TL was raised and as I recall from my file, some were purchased and supplied via St John’s Ambulance in the UK.
Here we are in 2016 and further funding needs to be raised so we are publishing the appeal below and cyprusscene will also be looking at a number of other options to help promote the need for further fund raising to maintain and keep this facility functioning for the future.
Esentepe And Tatlisu Defibrillators, Urgent Help Is Required
You may or may not be aware that there are 5 defibrillators in and around the Esentepe and Tatlisu areas. These have been sited since 2012 and potentially could provide life saving emergency help in event of a cardiac arrest.
The “defibs” are situated at :
- Outside the Esentepe Belediyesi Building.
- Outside Ömrüm Pharmacy near Tuncay’ın Yeri/Turtle Bay.
- On the wall near the main road by Red Fort Restaurant.
- Almond Tree Restaurant/Sinya
- NE.& SE Restaurant/Metran Supermarket, Tatlisu.
During our normal monthly maintenance checks, three of the Defibs (Esentepe Belediyesi, Red Fort and NE&SE) were showing a warning signal indicating that the batteries are low and need replacing. So in effect the machines are not guaranteed to be as effective in event of an emergency. We have a spare battery and this was used to replace the battery outside the Esentepe Belediyesi, this Defib is now working normally. The current cost of a battery is £150.00.
We replaced the pads in October 2015. Replacement pads cost £60 each and we had enough funds remaining to buy one battery (used in the Esentepe Belediyesi Defib).
At this moment in time we have £160 remaining in the emergency fund. The batteries come from the UK so we can buy 1 battery and this will replace the battery at NE&SE, Tatlisu. Unfortunately this will not be possible until mid November. We cannot replace the one outside the Red Fort as there are no funds to buy additional batteries.
The Defibs outside the chemist and the Almond Tree will probably need replacing during the next month or so. We are looking at 3 more batteries and really 5 chest pads to maintain effective cover for the Defibs. initially we have a shortfall of £750.
Since the original committee was formed in 2012 to raise funds and site the Defibs, our team of volunteers has dwindled to just the two of us, as with all good causes people drift away or have left the Island of Cyprus..
The Defibs are given a visual check every month and any problems recorded. Thankfully the Defibs have never been used but are there in case. We would hate to have to remove them but if we cannot get money to replace parts then they will have to be taken away.
We have contacted a Voluntary Organisation but they have shown little interest in taking over the responsibility of maintaining them.
We are not fund-raising people and do not really want to get involved in charity events. Can anybody help us or make suggestions so that these Defibs can remain in situ and maintain the emergency cover.
It will be such a shame that the work carried out by the original committee in 2012 to get Government approval for the Defibs to be allowed into the country and installed at various locations along the main road to go to waste. If nothing can be done unfortunately we will have to remove the Defibs that need the batteries replaced.”
For those reades who would like to help please forward your message in the contact form click here via cyprusscene.com
