October 2013 NUI Galway Park and Ride Facility first route to benefit from City Direct Defibrillators

City Direct Buses Are First Private Bus Fleet in Ireland To Install Mobile Defibrillators

City Direct has just announced the introduction of mobile defibrillators on their NUI Galway Park & Ride shuttle buses – which operates to and from the college for more than 17,500 students and 2,000 staff members.

City Direct is currently the largest omnibus operator outside public service provider Bus Éireann. The company has just installed defibrillators on two of their buses and plan to roll it out to the rest of its fleet in 2014. This also means that every City Direct driver will be first aid trained, indicating a massive investment from the company into the health and safety of their passengers.

Putting the customer first, City Direct was looking to do something special, something that no other bus company was doing, at no extra cost to the customer. More people die in Ireland every year from cardiovascular disease than any other disease. It accounts for 36% of all deaths and is a major cause of disability.

Defibrillation is the recommended treatment for the life-threatening condition - cardiac arrest when the heart stops working. The defibrillator delivers a charge to the heart that allows the normal heart rhythm to be re-established.

Currently, the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest is thought to 1%. This is linked to a breakdown in the four necessary steps; the Chain of Survival to be taken as soon as a person suffering a cardiac arrest:

1. Early Access – phone 112 for an ambulance immediately.

2. Early CPR 

3. Early defibrillation

4. Early advance care in the hospital.

These steps, the first 3 of which can be provided by City Direct staff increase the patient’s survival rate significantly – by as much as 50% if the casualty is defibrillated within 5 minutes of collapsing.

Dr Kieran Loftus, NUI Galway Executive Director of Operations said “NUI Galway welcomes City Direct’s Provision of AEDs on their on-campus Park & Ride Buses. This complements NUI Galway’s own AED programme and helps ensure that the University community is better prepared to respond to cardiac emergencies.”

Since 2009 City Direct has operated a park and ride service on behalf of NUI Galway, since 2009, providing a shuttle bus operating to and from the college.  The 500 car space car park is located at Corrib Village and the Park and Ride facility is accessed off the Upper Newcastle / Moycullen Road (N59) via the entrance to Corrib Village. They will also be introducing Wi-Fi on their buses in the near future and are exploring the possibility of being the first “Leap” card operator in Connacht.

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