The Defib Centre Opens its Doors to Raise Awareness of the Tragic

Loss of Life from Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Affordable easy-to-use Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) for use in

the home are now available in the UK from The Defib Centre

HeartSine® Personal Defibrillation Unit PDU 400

West Sussex, United Kingdom – The Defib Centre Ltd, the Sussex-based
sudden cardiac arrest information resource and authorised distributor of UK-
manufactured HeartSine Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) has just
launched.

According to the British Heart foundation, sudden cardiac arrest kills more
than 2,000 people in the UK every week. It is the UK’s biggest killer, claiming
more victims than lung cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined. It is these
appalling statistics that motivated Robin Shepherd, former Channel 5 and
BBC1 Watchdog "back expert", to set up The Defib Centre.

“A cardiac arrest will completely drain the life from someone within 10
minutes. But, instead of standing by and watching that happen, with a little
training and an essential, affordable, easy-to-use piece of equipment, you can
improve their chance of survival dramatically,” says Shepherd.

“Imagine that you find someone - perhaps your husband, wife or work
colleague - who has collapsed. What do you do? Call 999 and hope the
emergency services get there in time? If an automated external defibrillator
(AED) is used alongside cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within the first
5 minutes of an attack, the survival rate goes up from less than 5% to over
60%. With over 80% of cardiac arrests happening outside a hospital, and
mostly in the home, it could be down to you whether someone close to you
lives or dies! Is the ambulance response time to your home less than 5
minutes?”

A home AED from The Defib Centre - www.thedefibcentre.co.uk - can be

purchased for as little as £599+VAT - and the price includes a free CPR/AED
training kit. The HeartSine AED was designed specifically for simplicity of use;
the size of a radio, with a 5 year battery life, it has only two buttons to press,
and no heavy paddles dripping with gloop to wave about . . . but you do still
get to say: "Stand clear!" The AED will only shock if a shock is advised; it
won’t do any harm and cannot be overridden. No one has never been taken to
court for trying to save a life with an AED, whatever the outcome. And it is
easy to use; a study in "Circulation" showed that a group of 12-year-olds, who
had never seen an AED before, successfully delivered a shock in just 23
seconds longer than trained paramedics.

Another surprising - and sad - fact is that you are probably better off having a
cardiac arrest in a casino in America, a brothel in Switzerland, on an airplane
or in a train, as they all have AEDs available and can get to you in those
critical first 5 minutes. At home - without access to an AED - your chances of
survival are incredibly slim. Things would be significantly better if everyone in
the UK was trained in CPR and in the use of AEDs - as is the case,
increasingly in many European countries and America, often as part of their
school curriculum.

The Defib Centre’s director, Robin Shepherd, DO, recognises the problem
and is making every effort to improve this situation: “Ask if there's an AED in
your gym, in your school, at your workplace, and if there isn't, suggest that
they get one,” he says. “If you’re serious about saving a life, then buy an AED
for your home and get some basic training in life support. The free training
package that comes free with every AED simply and quickly shows you how
to perform CPR and use an AED, enough for anyone to be safe and
successful - it’s a great starter and will arm you with everything you need to
know to save a life. The Defib Centre is driven by passion, not profit, and our
aim is to make AEDs available everywhere and for everyone, next to every
fire extinguisher in the country."

To purchase an AED, click here:

http://www.thedefibcentre.co.uk/shop/home.php?cat=1

About Robin Shepherd

Robin is a medical osteopath and expert witness by profession. He was
acting chairman of the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) until April 2009,
remains on the GOsC board and is a trustee of Action against Medical
Accidents (AvMA). He has lectured nationally, internationally, at post-graduate
and under-graduate levels within his profession and has been featured on
television, radio and in the press on many occasions over the last 20 years.

About The Defib Centre

A few years ago, Robin’s life was touched by the deaths of two close friends
due to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This motivated him to create The Defib
Centre, an up-to-date information resource determined to educate
the public about and raise awareness of the problem of SCA and provide the
essential part of the solution with the most affordable, reliable and easy-to-use
AED available for home use. Driven by passion and not profit, The Defib
Centre has done the research on AEDs so that you don't have to.

For more information, please contact:

Robin Shepherd
The Defib Centre
Unit 1, "Kings Copse"
Plaistow
West Sussex
RH14 0PE

0800 634 9745

contact@thedefibcentre.co.uk
http://www.thedefibcentre.co.uk

Submitted by:
John Wood
+44 777 152 0001
jw@worldwidepr.net
http://www.worldwidepr.net
http://twitter.com/worldwidepr
London, United Kingdom

Keywords: cardiac arrest, sudden, aed, cpr, defibrillator, heart attack, cardiomyopathy, myocardial
infarction, resuscitation, save a life, saving lives, bring back to life, rescue