Surrey campaigner calls for more unlocked defibrillators
- Published
David Sullivan, who set up Creating Lifesavers, has helped put up seven unlocked defibrillators in Oxted
A campaigner is calling for more unlocked defibrillators to be installed, after losing four friends to cardiac arrest.
David Sullivan, from Oxted, said making a phone call to get a code to unlock the device can use up vital time.
Defibrillators, which typically cost up to £2,000, are often locked over vandalism concerns.
NFL player Damar Hamlin collapsed with a cardiac arrest, bringing the importance of the devices into focus.
Every year, more than 30,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospital. But fewer than one in ten people survive.
Mr Sullivan said: "If you are near a defibrillator and you get that on the patient in under three minutes, their chances of survival can go up to 70%."
Mr Sullivan, who runs an organisation called Creating Lifesavers, has helped install seven unlocked defibrillators around Oxted.
It has shown 300 people in the local community how to use the devices, which deliver an electric shock to get the heart pumping properly.
Francis Fernandes was technically dead for minutes after experiencing a cardiac arrest in 2018
Francis Fernandes went into cardiac arrest in 2018 in Reigate. Two passers-by gave him CPR for 13 minutes before an ambulance arrived with a defibrillator.
"I was told that if I hadn't had effective CPR and a defibrillator shock within six minutes my brain would have started to have died at a rate of 10% per minute," he told BBC South East Today.
Mr Fernandes added that having a lock on a defibrillator "slows down" the ability to deploy shock.
South East Coast Ambulance Service said it recommends defibrillators remain unlocked, but some were locked due to vandalism or theft concerns.
Follow BBC South East on Facebook, external, on Twitter, external, and on Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk, external.