The CEO of the foreign resident association afpop, Michael Reeve, along with council president Chris Ireland, presented the equipment to the commanders at a short ceremony at the Portimão Bombeiros station, bringing an end to the campaign which has now presented a portable defibrillator to each of the seventeen Bombeiros Commands in the region.
Commander Richard Marques of the Portimão station who coordinated all the presentations on behalf of the Federação dos Bombeiros do Algarve (FBA) said: “We are delighted that the Operation Shock campaign has reached its target in only five months and has provided this life saving equipment across the Algarve. We are very grateful to afpop for this initiative and congratulate them on such a fine project and our thanks go to all of those who have contributed to this excellent campaign”.
Many people and organisations have helped to make Operation Shock a success, including, for this final presentation, the Netherlands Club of the Algarve, the Combined Lodges of Portugal, Mungo’s Golf Society, the friends of ‘300 Birthday’ event and the children of Vale Verde International School, who held a sponsored ‘Read-a-thon’ and other fund raising activities to raise the donation to pay for a unit for Vila do Bispo Bombeiros.
This fund-raising initiative by Foreign Residents’ Association ‘afpop’, in conjunction with the Federation of Bombeiros of the Algarve, was intended to show support and give thanks to an organisation that has responded to the needs of the people of the region, whether Portuguese, foreign residents or holiday- makers.
The campaign was created by afpop after 30 years of service to its members, to acknowledge the work done by those men and women, largely volunteers, who offer help to all in times of distress.
The equipment supplied, as identified by the Bombeiros, is the Philips HeartStart FRx Defibrillator with ‘Infant Key’, which enables the machine to also be used on children without causing further damage to their hearts. The equipment is lightweight and can be used quickly by the Bombeiros nurses on scene. The portable defibrillators are provided in order to equip one red ambulance in each command, which do not come fitted with such equipment as standard.