Where to find defibrillators in Biggleswade
Century House Market Place, Biggleswade SG18 8UU (On the wall outside)
Pictures of Lilly, 6 Hitchin St, Biggleswade SG18 8AX(On the wall outside)
Trinity Methodist Church, Shortmead St, Biggleswade SG18 0AP (On the wall at the rear of the Church, Chapelfields)
Biggleswade Fire Station, Chestnut Ave, Biggleswade SG18 0LL(On the wall outside)
Saxon Pool & Leisure Centre, Saxon Drive, Biggleswade SG18 8SU(A mobile unit inside the reception)
Biggleswade Railway Station, Station Rd, Biggleswade SG18 8AL (Image to follow)
(To be updated: Orchard Community Centre – TBA when this is installed)
What is a defibrillator
A defibrillator is a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest. This high energy shock is called defibrillation, and it’s an essential part in trying to save the life of someone who’s in cardiac arrest. A defibrillator may also be referred to as a defib, an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) or a PAD (Public Access Defibrillator).
Using a defibrillator could save a life
Cardiac arrests can happen to anyone, at any time. The following steps give someone the best chance of survival. If you come across someone in cardiac arrest:
- Call 999
- Start CPR
- Ask someone to bring a defibrillator if there’s one nearby (if no one is available to get one, listen to the emergency operator for further instructions)
- Turn on the defibrillator and follow its instructions.
How to use a defibrillator
Watch a video on how to use a defibrillator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFvL7wTFzl0
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Defibrillators, A Brief History
Defibrillators were first demonstrated in 1899 by Jean-Louis Prévost and Frédéric Batelli, two physiologists from University of Geneva, Switzerland. They discovered that small electrical shocks could induce ventricular fibrillation in dogs, and that larger charges would reverse the condition.
The external defibrillator as known today was invented by Electrical Engineer William Kouwenhoven in 1930. William studied the relation between the electric shocks and its effects on human heart when he was a student at Johns Hopkins University School of Engineering. Kouwenhoven’s observation was picked up by a pioneering cardiac surgeon, Claude Beck, at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. He began delivering AC directly to the exposed hearts of animals he had put into ventricular fibrillation. Beck might have continued methodically with his animal experiments, except that in 1947 a 14-year-old patient’s heart stopped during surgery. Out of desperation, Beck ordered that his research unit be brought up from the hospital’s basement. This simple defibrillator consisted of a transformer to isolate the patient from the 110-volt ac wall supply, a variable resistor to limit the current to a heart-safe value, and two metal tablespoons with wooden handles to deliver the jolt to the exposed heart.
The first shock failed, so Beck administered a second. That brought the patient back to life, and the event made national news. But because so little was known about why the technique worked or how to improve it, these crude ac systems persisted for several years.
The ‘father’ of the modern AED, Professor James Francis “Frank” Pantridge, CBE, MC, MD, (1916 – 2004) was a physician and cardiologist from Northern Ireland who transformed emergency medicine and paramedic services with the invention of the portable defibrillator.
The external defibrillator as known today was invented by Electrical Engineer William Kouwenhoven in 1930. William studied the relation between the electric shocks and its effects on human heart when he was a student at Johns Hopkins University School of Engineering. Kouwenhoven’s observation was picked up by a pioneering cardiac surgeon, Claude Beck, at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. He began delivering AC directly to the exposed hearts of animals he had put into ventricular fibrillation. Beck might have continued methodically with his animal experiments, except that in 1947 a 14-year-old patient’s heart stopped during surgery. Out of desperation, Beck ordered that his research unit be brought up from the hospital’s basement. This simple defibrillator consisted of a transformer to isolate the patient from the 110-volt ac wall supply, a variable resistor to limit the current to a heart-safe value, and two metal tablespoons with wooden handles to deliver the jolt to the exposed heart.
The first shock failed, so Beck administered a second. That brought the patient back to life, and the event made national news. But because so little was known about why the technique worked or how to improve it, these crude ac systems persisted for several years.
The ‘father’ of the modern AED, Professor James Francis “Frank” Pantridge, CBE, MC, MD, (1916 – 2004) was a physician and cardiologist from Northern Ireland who transformed emergency medicine and paramedic services with the invention of the portable defibrillator.
