- The defibrillators will be installed in public areas, on the coast and in the villages, in police vehicles and in municipal buildings.
Councillor Víctor Valverde has announced the award to Telefónica España SAU of the installation of 55 defibrillators across the municipality of Orihuela. The contract has a duration of five years and a value of 259,385 euros.
Of these defibrillators, 14 will be installed in public squares, mainly in those districts where emergency services take longer to arrive, such as Torremendo and Barbarroja; 11 will be portable and will be placed in Local Police vehicles (9) and emergency vehicles (2); and the rest will be located in municipal buildings, social centres, sports centres and public service centres.
Valverde said that “these semi-automatic defibrillators are easy to use and very intuitive. Once the electrodes are placed on the patient, the device automatically scans and applies a shock only if necessary.” In addition, the features include the selection of languages in Spanish and English, non-polarized electrodes, which facilitates their placement without risk of error, automatic verbal instructions with procedures to follow, incorporation of differentiated paediatric electrodes for use in children, and an automatic call to 112 when activated.
The project includes the development and implementation of two mobile applications that will determine the location of the defibrillator, allowing users to locate the equipment closest to an incident, and another application, which is the panic button, which includes a function that alerts people trained in first aid and health workers within a radius of 150 metres so that they can go to the scene of the emergency. “ With this, we increase the safety of our residents and our visitors, as well as ensuring that Orihuela obtains the official certification of ‘Cardio Protected City’ ”, explained the Councillor.
Nearly 400 municipal officials will receive training and certification for the use of defibrillators. In addition, information campaigns will be carried out aimed at the general public of the areas where the equipment will be installed in public squares.
So far, 18 defibrillators have been installed. All of the devices are expected to be fully operational by the first week of September.
