Team Herald
MAPUSA: A British national, Carol Freer has donated a fully Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) brought from UK to Silver Sands Holiday Homes at Candolim to save the lives of people in the beach belt, especially in the case of drowning and heart attacks.
Adressing media persons, Carol Freer, said that she has been coming to Goa for the last 20 years and was disturbed by the rising number drowning cases being reported.
“There is no such lifesaving equipment on the beach and the government needs to make available lifesaving equipment with Drishti. These days I have been reading in the newspaper about a lot of drowning cases across the beaches of Goa. I can still remember the day my friend, David Thorpe died of a heart attack in the hotel and if this defibrillator was there, probably his life would have been saved. The staff of this hotel helped me in a great way when the tragedy occurred last year hence I donated it to them,” said Carol.
“With this thought in mind, my friends from UK have contributed to this good cause and I am giving a defibrillator to the Silver Sands Holiday Homes at Candolim to use this for anyone who has a heart attack so at least a life can be saved. I have brought this all the way from the UK,” she added.
A medical representative from Manipal Hospital Dona Paula, Riya Naik claimed that this was the first Automatic External Defibrillator in Goa.
“The ones we have in our hospital or in the 108 are all manually operated and needs a person with medical knowledge to operate the AED. This Automatic External Defibrillator can be operated by any person with just the knowledge of first aid and will save lives of people,” said Riya who later demonstrated the defibrillator to the guest present.
The former Calangute MLA, Agnelo Fernandes who owns this resort said that the AED is of great use especially to his hotel as it is situated close to the beach.
“I will instruct my hotel staff to give our hotel number to Drishti who can contact us in case of any drowning or heart attack reported on the beach.
This AED can be given to them to save lives. All the lifeguards are given first aid training and hence it will not be a major issue to use this AED as all the instructions are displayed on it,” said Agnelo.
