Ten years after the first recorded UK save, LifeVac Europe®, the Devon based manufacturer of LifeVac® across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, is calling for its Class I medical devices, regulated by the FDA, MHRA, TGA, HPFB, MOH, and SAHPRA, to become a mandatory part of first aid kits. Created by Arthur Lih in the United States after witnessing a child choking on a grape, LifeVac® is a non-invasive airway clearance device designed to help remove an obstruction when standard Basic Life Support (BLS) has failed or cannot be performed. That single devastating moment sparked an invention that has saved more than 6,000 lives from the UK to the USA, Canada to Brazil, and Australia to Spain, in homes, restaurants, schools, nurseries, hospitals, care homes, and retail sites. Eric Banagan, Founder & Managing Director of LifeVac Europe®, said: “Every one of the reported saves represents someone who is here today because a LifeVac® device was used when standard BLS procedures were unsuccessful. Help was available in a critical moment, meaning children still have parents, parents still have children, and grandparents remain around the dinner table sharing memories that otherwise may have been lost.” “We’d love to live in a world where these devices were never needed, but the reality is that choking emergencies happen silently, quickly, and without warning, so people must be prepared. In the UK, ambulance target response times are eight minutes, yet potential brain damage can occur after just four, meaning every second counts.…
