President Jim Cairns and Liz Crawford from St John Scotland presented the Falkirk Wheel today (25^th May) with a Defibrillator. It will be sited externally at the Falkirk Wheel and not only will be there for the visitors to our town but will also serve the surrounding area.

In the event of a 999 call reporting a Cardiac arrest the operator will give to the caller the address of the nearest Defib. along with a numeric key to open the box. The defib. Can then be removed and transported to the stricken patient.

For every minute it takes for the defibrillator to reach someone and deliver a shock, their chances of survival reduce by up to 10%.

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) could be returned to normal sinus rhythm in 60% of cardiac arrest patients treated with a single shock from a monophasic defibrillator. Most biphasic defibrillators have a first shock success rate of greater than 90%.

Survival from cardiac arrest doubled when a bystander stepped in to apply an automated external defibrillator (AED) before emergency responders arrived, according to new research.