A ‘lifesaver’ is certainly not what any taxi driver expects to be called in their line of work.
But one local firm is hoping that might become the case in the future.
Diamond Taxis, has joined the growing community initiative to locate an out-of-hospital defibrillator at its base at Lower English Street, Armagh.
Dozens of AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillator) are located in towns and villages all over Northern Ireland, helping to save lives in the community.
In Northern Ireland, fewer than 10 out of some 1,400 people who suffer a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital survive.
But more and more lives are now being saved by use of the AED.
Diamond Taxis, jointly owned by Brendan Agnew, Brian Creaney and Eleanor Agnew, has been operating for more than 30 years in the Armagh city and district, providing a service for local people, schools and businesses.
Brendan Agnew said: “Locating a defibrillator at our headquarters is just something we thought would be practical and beneficial, should it ever be need.
“Because we operate 24 hours a day the defibrillator can be accessed at any time. And because we have taxis on call all of the time we can also quickly drive it to where it’s needed.”
Brendan added: “It’s just a commonsense idea which might save a life someday. We just want people to know that we have a defibrillator here and if they need it to give us a call.”
Diamond Taxis can be contacted on 028 3752 5204.
