There’s no shortage of news stories in which a defibrillator has saved a life. Whether it’s on the sports field (everybody remembers Christian Erikson’s cardiac arrest) or from local news, defibrillator (also known as AED) awareness is at an all time high. This in itself is reflected that 54% of the 2000 businesses we questioned in our previous blog about cardiac arrest preparedness stated they had a defibrillator on site. This is great news on the one hand. But on the other, that states that 46% of workplaces don’t have defibrillators. And that’s a potentially fatal stat. From our point of view, we wonder can your business afford not to have a defibrillator on site? That’s the topic of our latest blog, as World Heart Day approaches on 29th September. We’re looking at the details and hope to convince you that defibrillator readiness is of prime importance. Lets begin.

 

How a Defibrillator can Helps Save a Life

World Heart Day is all about communicating issues that come with the heart, and a defib plays a big part in that. But how can they help?

Defibrillators are electrical machines that deliver a controlled shock to a patient whose heart is in a state of fibrillation. That means that the heart is quivering and failing to beat as it has entered a spasm. A defibrillator is used to shock the heart back into normal rhythm, in turn restoring the heart to it’s usual function and ensuring that – as long as it is successful – the patient can return to a normal life – after a visit to the hospital of course.

The perfect thing about defibrillators is that they can be used by anyone. Public access defibrillators, which are different to those found in hospitals, are often found in cabinets and are available for all to use. Sometimes, businesses have them on their site for their staff’s own protection. Public access AEDs ensure that if someone suffers from a cardiac arrest, a layperson has the ability to bring them back round. A defibrillator, along with CPR, can help save a life. That’s why we think improving the number of businesses with AEDs is of prime importance.

 

An image of a defibrillator in a case.

Defibrillator Cost Breakdown

One of the main discussion points about defibrillators is the cost. And if you consider it as a one-off cost, then we can understand why it needs considering. But can you really afford not to have one available? But as for the costs, we think it is best to think about it broken down to the lifetimes of the equipment. So, lets do it that way.

Defibrillators last approx. 5 years but can work up to 10 years after they’ve been bought new. For the purposes of this, we’ll say you keep your defibrillator for 4 years before upgrading.

In addition to the actual cost of the machine, the defib battery needs to be replaced once every 4 years if left in standby and unused. That would mean you don’t need to replace the battery in the lifetime of your defib. But we always say it’s important to have replacement parts, so we’ve added one spare battery onto our cost list. In addition to this, the pads need replacing every two years, do you’ll need one pack of those over the four years. We’ve taken approximate costs of each piece of equipment, as they do vary. Lets look at that cost broken down:

Defib costs:

Defibrillator – £895 / 4 years = £223.75 a year

Pads – £200 / 4 years = £50 a year

Battery – £200 / 4 years = £50 a year

That means the total cost of the package per year is £323.75. That works out at 88p per day.

 

Firstly, these are approx. costs. Some models are lower cost, while some are much higher. That applies to all of the pieces. It’s also worth noting that these costs are also approximated right at time of writing. Costs can change often, so this is to be used as just a base example.

As you can see, 88p a day to protect your workforce and possibly the local community is not a lot. Breaking down the cost this way is a better way to convince decision makers that may be on the fence. Breaking down the cost this way seems like a no brainer to us. Why not pick up a defib this World Heart Day?

An image of an emergency services person getting a defib from their vehicle.

The Benefits of a Defib in your Workplace

There are plenty of benefits to why you should have a defibrillator in your workplace. Here are a few:

 

Greater safety

Having a defibrillator only a few minutes away can vastly increase the chances of a patient surviving a cardiac arrest.

Recognition

We don’t like to talk about it, but businesses with defibrillators will be looked at favourably by the local community.

Selfless Act

It’s a good thing to do, providing added care to employees and the community.

Low Cost, High Potential Reward

There’s a low associated cost per day – as we’ve seen above – but the high potential reward is there to see. You can’t put a price on saving a life.

 

So as we’ve explained above, having a defibrillator really is one of the best things you can do to avoid cardiac fatalities. And with World Heart Day here, what are you waiting for? See our defibrillator range by clicking the image below.

 


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