Life-saving medical unit launched on road outside Claremorris

A road outside Claremorris which has been the scene of several accidents has been equipped with a life-saving emergency medical unit.

Powered by solar energy, the new unit installed on the R331 between Claremorris and Hollymount is equipped with several items to assist with road and farm accidents.

This includes a defibrillator, a fire extinguisher, a windscreen breaker and specific trauma kit containing haemostatic bandages to help slow down trauma bleeds caused by a road traffic accident or a farm injury.

Members of the National Ambulance Service, Mayo County Council, Fire Brigade, An Garda Síochána, local county councillors and TDs Michael Ring and Rose Conway-Walsh, attended the official opening of this remote emergency medical unit, which can be accessed all-year round at any time of day.

Darren Forde, Co-Ordinator of the Hollymount Community First Responders Group and founder of Eco-Powered Cabinets, helped conduct a demonstration of various pieces of equipment at a mock-up car accident.

During the demonstration, attendees were shown how to break a car window, how to put out a fire safely and how to stop a trauma bleed caused by a saw at home or on the farm.

The R331 is used by over 2,800 vehicles a day with an average of three people per vehicle, equating to over 3.1 million passengers annually. The unit will also be accessible to over 700 local residents.

Mr Forde said that ‘every single community in the country’ can apply for funding for life-saving emergency medical units in their area.

“Whether you’re a community first responders group, whether you’re a Men’s Shed, a Tidy Town [committee], everyone has access to that, and we’re not using the funds that’s there enough,” said Mr Forde at the launch of the new unit on Friday.

“If this saves one life - a life is valued at €3.2 million to the state, and obviously it’s priceless to the family.”

Mr Forde, a former Mayo Person of the Year, was commended by local county councillors and TDs for his work in installing cabinets with life-saving equipment all over Mayo.

A unit recently installed on the summit of Croagh Patrick was used to assist a man who had to be airlifted from the mountain after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest.

“What you have done is tremendous,” said long-serving Mayo TD, Michael Ring.

“What you’ve done at Croagh Patrick, what you’ve done here today, it’s a credit to you. You have saved, and will save, many lives in the years ahead.”

The official ribbon-cutting of the new unit on the R331 was conducted by Jerry Higgins, a Community First Responder who attended many pre-hospital injuries over the last 30 years and local volunteer Marie Crowe.