The Official College of Pharmacists of Santa Cruz de Tenerife leads the initiative “Farmacias cardioprotegidas” (Cardioprotected Pharmacies), in collaboration with the capital's city council and the Canary Emergency Service (SUC). The project includes training in basic life support and the use of Semi-Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) for over 400 pharmacy professionals in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The training will be provided by nursing staff from Primary Care and will be accredited by the Canary School of Health and Social Services (ESSSCAN). The manager of Primary Care highlighted the importance of institutional collaboration for better serving society and acknowledged the involvement of Nursing staff.
The installation of over eighty defibrillators on the facades of pharmacies and strategic points in the Anaga area, along with the training of these professionals as first responders in case of cardiac arrest, represents a vital contribution to the cardioprotection of the population, according to Alberto Martell, Head of Operational Coordination for the SUC.
SUC health coordinators daily handle numerous emergency calls for cardiac arrests occurring outside hospital settings. Initiating resuscitation maneuvers as soon as possible is essential to minimize sequelae and increase the survival rate of those affected, until health resources arrive at the incident site.
The SUC fully supports this project, which will add semi-automatic defibrillators to the Archipelago's network and integrate them into the Ariadna App, a tool for responding to cardiac arrests in public spaces. In the Canary Islands, any person can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use a semi-automatic defibrillator, provided they have remote assistance from an SUC health coordinator or accredited training.
