Life-saving defibrillators are in short supply for people in poor and rural areas, says an expert calling for urgent action. 123RF A St John medical director says teaching people how to do CPR can greatly increase survival chances during a cardiac arrest. The devices can be found in supermarkets, malls and clubs but currently, it was up to communities to tackle issues around unequal access to defibrillators, Dicker said. Dicker's research examined relationships between socio-economic deprivation data, defibrillator locations and St John location data for "out of hospital" cardiac arrests. Dr Tony Smith, St John medical director, said survival rates could double when people stepped in quickly with CPR and a defibrillator.

Source: Stuff May 20, 2019 01:30 UTC