On Wednesday 22nd November, afpop Council President Chris Ireland was delighted to receive a cheque from the President of Rotary Club Estoi Palace International, Manuela Robinson, for €1,250, donated by the Rotary Club to afpop’s OPERATION SHOCK campaign. This fund raising initiative by afpop, in conjunction with the Federation of Bombeiros of the Algarve, has the aim of providing a mobile defibrillator unit for each of the 17 Bombeiros commands in the Algarve. The target amount is €20,000, which will enable afpop to purchase and supply the equipment to the Bombeiros.
Chris Ireland thanked the Rotary Club, saying “This donation will enable us to buy a unit outright and we are very grateful to the Estoi Palace International Rotary Club for supporting our campaign. We have been delighted with the support that we have received from afpop Members and the wider community and I am pleased to say that this will mean that we will have been able to supply seven units to Bombeiros stations across the region since we launched the campaign at BLiP in October.”
In donating the cheque to afpop, Manuela Robinson on behalf of the Estoi Palace International Rotary Club said; “We are delighted to be able to help afpop in their campaign and in particular the Bombeiros of Sao Bras. We were instrumental in purchasing a new ambulance for them in 2014 and are delighted to be able to help them again and provide such a vital piece of equipment“
Donations to the OPERATION SHOCK campaign can be in any amount, but please contact the afpop office to ask for the details of the account. Please visit the website www.afpop.com and click on the OPERATION SHOCK image. All donations are welcome and the equipment will be supplied to each station as soon as there is sufficient in the account to purchase the next unit.
Please remember, the next life that could be saved might be yours!
Important information: The reason for the ‘OPERATION SHOCK’ campaign is that only the yellow INEM Emergency ambulances are fully equipped with defibrillator equipment as standard. The red Bombeiros ambulances do not come equipped with them and this is of course a problem if they are called to a sick or injured person, who then goes into cardiac arrest either at the scene or on the way to hospital, as manual CPR is not easy to maintain for any length of time and is especially difficult in a moving ambulance.
The equipment being supplied, as identified by the Bombeiros, is the Philips HeartStart FRx Defibrillator with ‘Infant Key’, which enables the machine to also be used on children without causing further damage to their hearts. The equipment is lightweight and can be used quickly by the Bombeiros nurses on scene.
