A 27 year old Irish man on holiday in Albufeira, who fell ill in the early hours of Monday morning, was immediately assisted by friends using the nearby Automatic External Defibrillation.
The incident happened close to the intersection of Avenida Sá Carneiro and Rua José Fontana, where the AED booth is located.
Friends of the man suspected a cardiorespiratory arrest and began resuscitation using the device until the arrival of a rescue team from the Albufeira Volunteer Firefighters, who managed to resuscitate the victim. The INEM Emergency and Resuscitation Medical Vehicle (VMER) was also called, and the victim was transported to Faro Hospital, conscious.
Albufeira was the first municipality in the Algarve to implement a community-based Automatic External Defibrillation program, certified by INEM, which allows lives to be saved in the event of cardiorespiratory arrest.
The “Albufeira + Segura” project operates 11 AED booths, equipped with automatic defibrillators, installed at strategic points on the public roads, plus two portable defibrillators - one given to the Municipal Police and the other to the Fire Department.
Launched in October 2017, the program initially trained 71 citizens, who voluntarily attended training in basic life support and automatic defibrillation, taking on the commitment to develop the network of equipment and integrate a greater number of community first responders. Currently, there are now around 900 AED operators assigned to the program, and by the end of the year, 12 more booths will be installed on the public roads of Albufeira.
The Albufeira Volunteer Firefighters and the GNR are the main partners of the program, being the first group of local first responders, with the advantage of being on the ground 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Photo by Albufeira CM
