Defibrillators Open Job Opportunities!

A Belfast company has created more than 40 jobs in the name of "making defibrillators as common as fire extinguishers” as said by the chief executive of HeartSine Technology. Declan O’Mahoney is focusing on portable defibrillators and says he wants to double the sales of the existing product over the next 3 years.

The 40 new jobs will contribute around 1.3 million a year to the economy. Mr O’Mahoney is dedicated to the cause, stating “Around 100,000 people die from sudden cardiac arrest in the UK and Ireland each year, a couple of hundred die in fires," he said.

The positions opening are in a wide array of sectors, from senior management, product development, quality control, customer service, sales and manufacturing. The company has stated they wish to employ those who live in the local area to help the area with jobs.

"Yet there is a fire extinguisher or a smoke alarm in every public building. Our products are already in schools, restaurants, churches, sports clubs and even oil rigs and I want to make sure they are in every public building in the same way that fire extinguishers are.”
He also added “Our objective is to strength our workforce in Belfast so that we can double sales of our existing product portfolio, in our target markets over the next 3 years”

It’s great to see a company put so much work into making defibrillators a common item for citizens.

Internal Defibrillators Can Reduce Heart Failure By 40%

New guidelines have emerged from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (more commonly known as NICE) meaning that more patients who suffer from potentially fatal heart conditions will now be eligible to have internal defibrillators fitted. The association of British Healthcare Industries has estimated that the change could cut death from heart failure by up to 40 per cent nationwide.

Up until this point, patients have been receiving preventive treatment measures such as beta-blockers - however it has been well noted that these will not help a patient if any abnormal heart activity occurs, they only regulate heart activity to begin with.

Before the new guideline was put in place, those eligible for the devices were patients who have suffered from ventricular tachycardia, a leading cause of cardiac death. The treasurer for the British Society of Heart Failure stated

‘There have been many clinical trials over the past five or six years that have demonstrated this will save lives,’

The devices are miniature versions of regular defibrillators, and will be placed under the skin with wires connected to the heart. When an irregular heartbeat occurs the device will deliver an electric shock to return the heartbeat to normal.

Gately's Family Back Defibrillator Scheme

The family of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately has come out and publicly backed the healthcare campaign currently being run by the Evening News. The campaign is focused on bringing a defibrillator to every Lothians sports club and leisure centre.

When pop star Stephen tragically died in 2009, his friends, family and fans from all over the world were devastated, and his death touched the hearts of many of us here in the UK. The sudden cause of death was revealed on autopsy, and was revealed to be caused by a genetic heart condition - which had gone unnoticed his whole life. After his death, the family found ways to cope and one of the many ways was to back the Shockingly Easy campaign, in doing so, they joined Jamie Skinners family in the race to find ways to prevent these tragedies affecting others.

Stephens’ family said in a heart wrenching statement “I want no other family to go through what ours has” and added “I can’t put into words how I feel about the loss of Stephen. It’s something that is with me every day”.

Stephens’ particular heart condition was difficult to detect during his life, however since the tragedy his siblings are undergoing genetic tests to see if they also carry the illness.

She finally added “[These conditions] are silent killers” We can only offer our good thoughts to those affected by Stephens’ death, and give our support to the campaign. The campaign will hopefully give the family and those close to Stephen some peace of mind.