By Paul O’Donovan
A man’s life was saved, thanks to the quick reactions of a number of local people and Gardaí in Mullingar last Sunday evening, 4 December.
The man who collapsed in Mullingar, urgently required a defibrillator and compressions to revive him until such time as the ambulance service arrived on the scene and provided him with full medical care.
The story unfolded on Sunday evening last around 5pm. A large crowd of sympathisers had gathered outside Shaw’s Funeral home in Bishopsgate Street, to attend the funeral of a well-known Mullingar man. The crowd of mourners stretched from Shaw’s Funeral Home back up Bishopsgate Street as far as the school lane entrance to Presentation School. It was at this stage that a man, believed to be aged 63, and from Kilbeggan area, became unwell and collapsed to the ground.
It appeared to the people in the queue that the man was suffering a possible heart attack. People in the queue immediately phoned for the ambulance and emergency services.
Well-known local man, Paul Dempsey, was one of the first to react and realised a defibrillator was required. Mr Dempsey raced up Bishopsgate Street, down Mary Street and up Dominick Street to Rochforts Shop, where the defibrillator is located, and where his daughter, Aoife, also happened to be working at the time. When Paul told his daughter what had happened, Aoife ran out of the shop and immediately used the coded number to open the display case to release the defibrillator. Paul and Aoife then ran back down Dominick Street. Entering Mary Street, they noticed two Gardaí on the beat and immediately informed them what had happened.
The Gardaí then rushed to Shaw’s Funeral Home with the defibrillator where the man was lying on the street, and was being comforted by the people, who had placed their coats and jackets under and over him.
Three Gardaí attended the scene – Garda David Hannon, Garda Eileen Murphy and Garda Neil Donnellan. Garda Eileen Murphy and David Hannon immediately started to use the defibrillator and compressions to the man’s chest. These actions were vital in helping to revive the man and save his life, it transpired.
A few minutes later, the ambulance arrived on the scene. The emergency team of medics then took control of the situation and transferred the man into the ambulance, where once again he was revived, thanks to the great work of the medics.
The man was then brought to hospital and later transferred to St James’ Hospital in Dublin.
Thankfully, by Monday afternoon, it was reported that the man who collapsed had received stents to his heart and was making a good recovery. He was expected to be returning home very soon.
But it was all thanks to the extremely sharp reactions of people like Paul Dempsey, his daughter Aoife, Caroline Farrell, who played a major role in starting CPR on the collapsed man and bought valuable time, and the local Gardaí – in particular David Hannon and Eileen Murphy – who are trained in the use of the defibrillator, that helped save the man’s life.
BOUGHT VALUABLE TIME
The ambulance service were very grateful for the assistance of all the local people during the incident and said, “The Gardaí bought valuable time for us, thanks to their quick actions and the use of the defibrillator.”
Speaking to Topic this week, Aoife Dempsey who was working in Rochforts at the time of the incident, said, “Thank God the man is going to be okay. I got a shock when I heard it. My dad rushed in and told me what happened and said, ‘we need the defibrillator quick’.
So I rushed out and used the code number to release it. Then we just ran down the street and when we turned up Mary Street, we met the guards. I was delighted to see them and told them what happened, and they took over from there, but thank God, the man is okay. That is the main thing,” said a relieved Aoife.
Garda Dave Hannon Garda Hannon told Topic this week, “It is just about being in the right place at the right time and then it helps to have the right training.
If people know something about CPR, every little bit helps. All we were doing was buying some time until the ambulance staff arrived and they did an excellent job as well, so they have to be commended for that.”
Garda Hannon also helped save a man’s life last year in Cusack Park, Mullingar, when a footballer from Athlone, about to play a GAA match, collapsed prior to the match and required CPR and the use of a defibrillator also played a major role in saving the man’s life.
Recalling Sunday’s events, Garda Hannon said, “I was walking up Mary Street, and a woman ran across and said a man had collapsed outside Shaw’s Funeral Home, so we ran down and saw the man.
He was unconcious and unresponsive, so I checked for his breathing and his pulse. He had no pulse, he wasn’t breathing. I started chest compressions and when Neil (Donnellan) and Eileen (Murphy) got the defibrillator set up, we continued the chest compressions and his breathing came back and then the ambulance crew arrived.
The most important thing in a cardiac arrest situation is those first couple of minutes, to keep the chest and heart going, until the ambulance crew arrive,” said David.
Sgt David Jordan in Mullingar Garda Station told Topic this week he was very pleased with the quick reactions of the Gardaí that helped save the man’s life. Sgt Jordan stated that, “At present we have three defibrillators, one in each Regional Support Unit vehicle, but in an ideal situation every marked patrol car would have a defibrillator and we hope this will be the case in the near future.”
“Two out of three of the Gardai involved on Sunday were fully trained in how to use the Defibrillator and we are now pursuing ways of having all Gardaí fully trained in the use of the defibrillator, as we feel it is extremely important, and this week we have already begun looking into having the Gardaí fully trained in its use.”
NEED FOR THREE OR FOUR DEFIBRILLATORS IN MULINGAR
Another person who played a big role in last Sunday’s events is Tomás Nally of Rochforts Shop, Dominick Street. Tomás has actively pursued the case for defibrillators to be installed in the town of Mullingar, and was mainly responsible for the defibrillator being installed in a cabinet outside their shop in Dominick Street.
Tomás told Topic this week, “I’m delighted that this community project has paid off. There was a massive amount of fundraising for this defibrillator and there are 32 people fully trained and this is pay-back to the community.
