Every year, 40,000 people die from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which is about 110 per day. Every minute that passes reduces the survival rate by 10%. Long minutes pass before emergency services are notified and arrive on the scene.
However, solutions exist, notably thanks to automated external defibrillators. In 70% of cardiac arrest cases, witnesses are present and could act. In the United States, where the installation of defibrillators is widespread, the survival rate is estimated between 20 and 50%, whereas it is only 2 to 3% in France. According to Inserm, a quick intervention using a defibrillator could allow nearly 30% of cardiac arrest victims to survive, saving nearly 12,000 lives annually.
The installation of defibrillators is therefore, in this respect, a public health requirement.
With this in mind, the RMC/BFM Association, with the support of MEDEF and the French Red Cross, in partnership with the Malakoff Médéric group, PHILIPS, and the SNCF, is organizing a traveling exhibition in the form of a Train Expo. This “Heart Train,” aimed at raising awareness among local political and economic actors as well as the general public, will stop in 13 cities across France from October 7 to 20, 2008. The Heart Train will leave from Paris, Gare de Lyon, on Tuesday, October 7, 2008, at 9:30 a.m., with Roselyne Bachelot, Minister of Health, Youth, Sports, and Community Life, and Laurence Parisot, President of the French Business Confederation (MEDEF), in attendance.
The Heart Train will stop at Nice Station on Saturday, October 11, at 11 a.m. (exhibition, demonstrations). Laurent Lachkar, President of UPE 06 and MEDEF 06, along with a delegation of business leaders from the department, will welcome this train and encourage business leaders to equip their establishments with defibrillators.
The Program:
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.: Train opening for local officials, business leaders, and the press.
• Visit the exhibition (3 cars)
• Demonstration of defibrillator use and presentation of lifesaving techniques by volunteers from the French Red Cross
• Possible signing of the Charter for the generalization of defibrillators
• Press cocktail in the Orient-Express car
2 p.m. – 5 p.m.: Train opens to the general public.
• Visit the exhibition (3 cars)
• Demonstration of defibrillator use and presentation of lifesaving techniques by volunteers from the French Red Cross.
