2023-06-24 06:00:00
Forty miniature defibrillators were distributed to residents and municipal police officers in this town in Vendée. A first in France.
By Charles Guyard Five municipal police officers, including Loïc Perrin, have been equipped with miniature defibrillators. © CG Published on 06/24/2023 at 08:00
This is perhaps a mention that could one day appear on tourist brochures in the same way as the Blue Flag: here, we know how to save lives! In Les Sables-d’Olonne, we have indeed chosen to tackle heart attacks, a scourge which, each year in France, kills 50,000 people, i.e. almost the population of the seaside resort in winter (five times more ‘summer).
The first stage of this vast ambition began this Thursday and it consisted of the distribution of forty miniature defibrillators to as many people chosen by SAUV Life. In 2014, the association developed an application that alerts anyone who has downloaded it that an individual is the victim of a crisis in the vicinity and that he needs immediate care while waiting for help. Since its creation, it has allowed 79 hearts to resume their beating and, to date, it has 340,000 subscribers throughout France.
Among them, Cléa and Paola, whose profiles caught the eye of SAUV Life: working from home in the city center, the two women are therefore “very available” all day, and therefore able to ” shift” often and quickly in the city of the Vendée Globe. After undergoing heart surgery two months ago, Pascal felt “very motivated” when he was approached. “I think everyone should be trained from school,” insists the 67-year-old.
In France, we only have a 5% chance of surviving a heart attack, whereas in a country where people are trained, we reach 40%!
A wish shared by the mayor of Les Sables-d’Olonne, Yannick Moreau. In September, he must present a major training plan for all his constituents. Red Cross, firefighters, SNSM: it does not yet know precisely which organizations will be responsible for teaching the practice of cardiac massage, but all Sablais who wish to can access it. A first in France on the scale of a city.
“The ambition is for the entire population to be trained, because each minute that passes without intervention means fewer chances of survival, assures the elected official. In France, we only have a 5% chance of surviving a heart attack, whereas in a country where people are trained, we reach 40%! »
A town of retirees
If 99 fixed defibrillators are already scattered in his municipality, the forty new mobile miniature devices (no bigger than a tablet) distributed will singularly increase this territorial network. Especially since here, the population is made up of 45% retirees, therefore more exposed to cardiac complications. A population that can also count on five municipal police officers equipped, like Loïc Perrin. “It does not take up space and we are lucky to be on a motorcycle, so we can go very quickly to the intervention to take care of a person in distress”, supports the official who, in the past, has already had to resort to cardiac massage to bring one of his colleagues back to life. “He got away with it, but at that time, we didn’t even have a defibrillator and it’s true that external assistance is good, we tell ourselves that we are not alone. »
Indeed, the device works like those, larger, installed in the streets or sports halls. Once the packaging is removed, a voice indicates the procedure to follow. “It’s simpler than a microwave”, welcomes Caroline Cazes, in charge of the development of SAUV Life, who hopes to extend the initiative to the whole territory. In the meantime, the pilot town of Les Sables-d’Olonne can boast, for this summer, of being the favorite destination par excellence.
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