In Balbriggan, a push to use the deposit-return scheme to fund a life-saving project

A while back at a community meeting, Aidan Whelan heard someone half-joke that there are more defibrillators in Balbriggan than bins.

He scratched his head and wondered where the defibrillators are in the town, said Whelan, on 10 October, sat at a corner table in the lounge of the Bracken Court Hotel.

One is in fact here at the hotel, he says. He also found more than 30 others listed in Balbriggan on the National Ambulance Service’s register and apps, he said – at places like Apache Pizza.

But the research made him realise that they’re not placed strategically, he said.

Reading up, he learnt that more than 70 percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen at home, he said. “Why isn’t the focus point at home?”

He is now looking to fix this – to create a chain of defibrillators in Balbriggan that extends beyond main streets into housing estates. The aim, he says, is to have one defibrillator every 420 metres.

To help fund it, he wants to cash in on the deposit return scheme with a network of orange bins where Balbriggan residents can drop plastic bottles as a donation to the cause.

Already, he says, community groups and residents’ associations are on board to host the bins, which he hopes could be reassigned later to support future community causes.  “It’s a new concept,” said Whelan.

A wider plan

A recent review of thousands of cases of cardiac arrest outside of hospitals by University College Dublin found that the highest rate of survival was in patients who had bystander defibrillation.

Planting defibrillators across Balbriggan is one leg of Whelan’s effort to build a “chain of survival” across the town.

He is also working to pull together volunteers to train as community first responders – those who could quickly get to a patient, and do CPR or shock them with a defibrillator, before an ambulance arrives.

He is looking to work with the charity Critical on that, says Whelan, himself a filmmaker who works in IT and is also involved in community groups.

Representatives of Critical will be at a public meeting, open to all, on the evening 23 October at the Seamus Murphy Senior Citizen Hall in Balbriggan to tell people more about how they work.

Edward Walsh, head of operations at Critical, said they have been setting up community first responder groups around Ireland for about 18 months now.

On 23 October, they plan to share what they do, and the benefits of a network of community first responders, he says. “And to answer any of the questions that they have.”

A big benefit of being affiliated with Critical is that the charity helps with the bureaucracy, the Garda vetting, he says. “We take all that pressure off.”

They run a one-day training, which is accredited by the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council, he says. “It gives a lay person who has never done it before to go from being very basic to having the knowledge to do good quality CPR.”

People are assessed by Critical and the National Ambulance Service to make sure that they have the confidence and competence to help before they become active, he said.

“It’s kind of everywhere needs them,” says Walsh, of community first responders. Ireland has a fantastic ambulance service, but there isn’t an ambulance on the corner of every road.

If you have a group of responders – whether in a rural area, or in a town like Balbriggan – you have someone who can respond on your doorstep. “My motto is: the chain of survival starts with you,” says Walsh.

“It could be your next-door neighbour, it could be your family member,” he said. “You could lose three people, but you could save one person.”

Finding the funding

Finding funding for the defibrillators has been a challenge, says Whelan. That’s why he turned to the orange bins.

The idea is that labelled orange bins will be placed around Balbriggan, people can put their bottles in them.

Any money from the deposits will go into a store account with supplier Smart Medical, says Whelan.

Using the money from the deposit return scheme to fund community initiatives is gradually catching on.

Re-turn, which operates the deposit return scheme, fundraises for six children’s charities with donation stations at major events.

GAA clubs around the country are also trying to leverage returned bottles into cash for their teams.

Whelan has parties in Balbriggan signed up to host bins. He namechecks Balbriggan Football Club, EEC Hardware, and two residents’ associations – New Haven Bay and Taylor Hill.

Whelan says that he is conscious of possible competition. Other groups might understandably look to orange bins to fund their own Balbriggan projects.

He would ask others to pause for a second, he says. “We’re looking to reduce the critical issues in Balbriggan in terms of avoidable fatalities with medical supplies – such as defibrillators and life buoys.”

Let them do it for 12 or 18 months, he says. After, they can repurpose the bins, says Whelan. “The purpose could be there for anything.”