THE hard work of two ladies to raise funds to buy defibrillators for different parts of Tralee came to fruition this week, with the presentation of two to Tralee Community Responders and Foley’s SPAR Express.

Audrey Moran and Paco Tralee’s Eileen Whelan held a fashiob/coffee morning fundraiser at Paco in March and raised enough to buy three defibrillators with another one pledged for August.

The event was inspired by Audrey’s sister, Therese O’Brien’s experience after she almost died in the town centre in early January.

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Therese felt unwell outside Lloyd’s Pharmacy in Ashe Street  and her life was saved thanks to a defibrillator in the pharmacy, the skill of staff, local doctor Karen Soffe and medics who arrived quickly on the scene.

The funds raised bought three Radon AED defibrillators costing €1,400 each and two were presented at Foley’s SPAR Express on the Castlemaine Road on Thursday.

One will be placed at the SPAR (which paid for half of one defibrillator), one was presented to the Tralee Community Responders and the other will be placed at a suitable location in town in the coming weeks.

Norman Foley of Foley’s SPAR Express said; “Therese works here so we got involved and since we open from 6.30am to 10.30pm, it was a good idea to have one here as there’s not many placed on this side of town. Also, a friend of mine was down in Tralee a few years ago and needed the use of a defibrillator, so I know how important it is.”

Audrey Moran said: “We want to thank everyone for their kind donations, especially Borg Warner, who donated €500, to Norman Foley, to the Tralee Community Responders and the staff of Lloyds Pharmacy who were so good to Therese.”

The staff of SPAR will be trained by Tralee Community Responders in how to properly use the defibrillators.