DEFIBRILLATORS have been installed across Athy with 40 local people trained on them in the culmination of a campaign that raised over €4,000 to buy the lifesaving devices.

In October of last year service personnel in Athy first launched a fundraising campaign to purchase defibrillators for the town.

Fire Service personnel linked up with their colleagues in the ambulance service for the fundraising campaign with the hoping getting three defibrillators for the town at central locations.

Paul O’Rourke-Glynn of Athy Fire Station says it was important to raise money for more than one defibrillator.

He said: “There are three in all now. It was my idea initially. I said why don’t we raise money for public access defibrillators. And I said, why stop with one?

“We might as well go with three to cover all angles of the town cause it’s so long and the traffic is so congested.

“We had two fundraisers since October. One was a table quiz in Clancy’s and the other was a car wash behind the courthouse.

“The Order of Malta did the training for us for free and Athy Ambulance Service helped out. Nigel Kelly, a paramedic in Athy, he sourced the defibrillators. People donated money and prizes too.”

The defibrillators are mounted in areas that members of the public will have access to them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

There is one inside the Topaz on the Dublin Road, a 24-hour garage, so even if the shop is closed after 11pm staff will give the defibrillator out the hatch to those in need.

There’s one on the Town Hall in the square and another in the Topaz on the Kilkenny Rd, both in a keypad locked device.

In the event of a cardiac arrest, people dial 999 and they tell you where your nearest defibrillator is and they give you the code to get it out.