“The ‘Solidarity Weekends’ is an association helping the victims of Storm Alex. The SDIS 06 and the association ‘20,000 Lives’ have decided to assist them with a valuable donation.
In France, nearly 50,000 people die from cardiac arrest, including a thousand in the Alpes-Maritimes. Firefighters respond approximately 800 times a year in the department for cardiac arrest. However, only 5 to 7% of victims are saved because, in most cases, first responders do not master emergency care.
The association ‘20,000 Lives’ is therefore working to promote defibrillators, an essential tool in these situations. According to the association, 20,000 lives could be saved each year thanks to this equipment. Dr. Claude Mariottini, president and founder of ‘20,000 Lives,’ decided to give a defibrillator to the ‘Solidarity Weekends’ association.
The latter is committed to helping the victims of Storm Alex. ‘Today, we are donating a defibrillator because it seemed essential to us to provide additional security to the people helping in the valleys,’ explains Claude Mariottini. ‘Beyond this donation, we will soon train volunteers in the use of this equipment.’
A defibrillator and a first aid kit
In addition to this defibrillator, Charles-Ange Ginésy also provided an emergency first aid kit to the association ‘20,000 Lives.’ According to the president of the Alpes-Maritimes Department and president of the administrative council of SDIS 06, knowing first aid skills is vital: ‘This equipment will secure their interventions. The defibrillator is essential to save lives. Making it available throughout the territory and training the population in its use and in resuscitation techniques are major challenges.’
These sentiments are echoed by René Dies, departmental director of SDIS: ‘We now have nearly 700 defibrillators in the Alpes-Maritimes: it is an asset for our population! We ensure the maintenance of these devices and work alongside the Department on several operations.’
Gil Marsalla, founder of the ‘Solidarity Weekends,’ was inevitably grateful at the moment of receiving this donation: ‘Every Saturday, 100 to 150 volunteers come to support the victims. It seemed essential to ensure everyone’s safety. For us, it’s the assurance of being calm, but also of reassuring our volunteers who undertake these operations.’
Furthermore, awareness-raising actions on first aid techniques are regularly carried out. 45,000 people, including 8,000 children and middle school students, have been sensitized over the past three years.”
