Defibrillator awareness issue after near-death experience at Na Rossa

Na Rossa GAA club in west Donegal is set to raise the issue of defibrillator awareness after a serious incident at their club grounds last week.

One of their club members, Trevor Melly, was suddenly taken ill but thanks to the immediate intervention of Dr Amara Bonner, who was on the scene within minutes, a tragedy was averted.

Melly, a member of a very well-known GAA family, was attended at the pitch side after he took ill in his car after a training session, and thanks to a number of factors, the most important being the presence of Amara Bonner, the daughter of outgoing Donegal senior team manager Declan), he was kept alive for 20 minutes by CPR until the arrival of an ambulance. He was then airlifted to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry where a blocked main artery was diagnosed and a stint was inserted.

He returned to Letterkenny University Hospital the following day and was able to return home to Leitirmacaward, some yards from the pitch, on Monday evening last. However, the dramatic incident, which thankfully has had a positive outcome, has raised a serious issue about the working of a defibrillator at the venue.

On the night in question there was an issue with the defibrillator and the club are concerned about the issue and the possibility of this happening at other GAA grounds.

"We have been on to the Co Board about the issue and our club are meeting on Thursday night to discuss it," said a spokesperson for the Na Rossa club. It is expected that the club will issue a statement on the matter on Friday of this week.
When contacted this week, Donegal County Board chairman, Mick McGrath, said he was aware of what happened at the Na Rossa club grounds last week and confirmed that they had been in touch with the Board regarding the matter.
It was on the agenda for last night's County Board meeting.

“The defibrillators and everything around them is something that we will have to look at," said McGrath, who added that it can be an issue for all clubs.

He said that the arrival of defibrillators at club grounds and generally was something that came about after the sad death of Cormac McAnallen in Tyrone back in 2004.

"There was a great surge to get defibrillators into every club in Tyrone and that was extended throughout the country and backed by the GAA. But after last week's incident at Na Rossa, it is a wake-up call for all clubs to be made more aware of the internal mechanisms of defibrillators, the operators and the people in clubs who have to be trained.

"It is something that we are continuing through our hard-working Health and Wellbeing Committee," said McGrath, who said that training modules will be available probably in the autumn.