Successful launch of the BeeCon Project in Breaffy

Photo caption: Darren Forde, CEO of Eco Powered Cabinets with his daughters Emma and Lauren Forde, Makayla Connolly (daughter of Natasha Beegan, founder of The BeeCon Project) and Catherine McDonagh (daughter of Ian MacDonagh, MacAuliffes Total Health Paharmacy, sponsors).

'The BeeCon Project' is a reusable, scalable, community-led initiative to help communities locally, nationally and internationally deliver lifesaving equipment in their area. It is a blueprint for communities to source and secure sponsorship from local businesses in order to deliver solar or wind powered cabinets with defibrillators and all auxiliary assets to any area with no overhead to the community.

The BeeCon Project was founded by Natasha Beegan Connolly, based in Breaffy, Castlebar.

“What started as a small idea to source and pay for a defibrillator in our community in Breaffy this quickly led to this massive undertaking,” said Natasha at the launch of the project last week.

Research undertaken by Natasha shows that having a defibrillator on site within 2 minutes meant up to an 80 percent chance of survival and that for every minute that passes, the chances of a person surviving a cardiac arrent are reduced by 7-10 percent. Natasha has been a remote worker for 15 years and as a rural advocate also learned from research that over 33 percent of Ireland is considered rural and when it comes to Emergency Medical Response (EMS).

Natasha sourced sponsorship for the solar-powered cabinet and defibrillator from MacAuliffe’s Total Health Pharmacy in Castlebar. The excavation and installation of the steel pole was completed by Seamus O’Brien and Sons Ltd. The signage for the pole was sponsored by Multi-Coloured Corporation (MCC) and the solar-powered light for the pole was sponsored by CT Electric.

The BeeCon Project prides itself on innovation in that it is the very first solar-powered cabinet with a defibrillator on a road, globally. Among those in attendance at the launch in Breaffy House Hotel was host Michael Lyster, Martin Carney (local resident), Kathleen Canavan-Moran (Advanced Nurse Practitioner Cardiothoracic Surgery), Al McDonnell (Cathaoirleach, Castlebar MD), Rob Hennelly (local resident) and Darren Forde (CEO of Eco-Powered Cabinets). Minister Dara Calleary and Alan Dillon TD were also in attendance.

This community project is the first of its kind and the template can be used all over the globe in different languages. The challenge set out by Cllr Al McDonnell (Cathaoirleach, Castlebar MD) at the end of the launch was to have every locally elected representative in Mayo take ownership of delivering The BeeCon Project in their area within 12 months, ideally before the local elections in 2024. The objective is to create an awareness that this blueprint is available to be used today. The message from Natasha is that “together everyone can play a part in addressing the lack of defibrillators in both rural and urban areas, globally.”