1969: Belfast's life-saving CARDIAC AMBULANCE | Man Alive | Science and Nature | BBC Archive

Thanks in large part to Frank Pantridge and John Anderson, it was claimed that in the mid-to-late 1960s, the city of Belfast was the 'safest place in world' in which to have a heart attack.
This was largely due to his Cardiac Ambulance, based at the Royal Victoria Hospital, which enabled the fastest treatment to patients and access to the world's first lightweight defibrillator.
Such were the benefits of getting the highly portable device to the scene of medical emergency, that medical teams all over the world implemented their very own 'Pantridge plan'.
Clip taken from Man Alive: Heart Attack 2 - Great Britain, originally broadcast on BBC Two, Wednesday 2 July, 1969.
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[@kymhorner]

This is on display at the Ulster Transport Museum!

[@fidelcatsro6948]

Good old days of real analog loud sirens, incandescent lightbulbs for blinkers and cats🐱eye spectacle frames....I bet CPR techniques wasn't known yet?

[@creepingjesus5106]

Yes, CPR was known and practiced. The doctor mentions it when talking about the 73yr old patient.

[@OregonCrow]

Called the old days for a reason, useless.

[@jasonayres]

(3:20) I sometimes wondered, as a boy, why nurses wore these head dresses. I still don't know, but I am amazed at the aerodynamics of the things. 🤔 Perhaps that's how the Flying Nun could get around..!

[@suspicionofdeceit]

Possibly a makeshift bandage?

[@jasonayres]

@@suspicionofdeceit Could have been. Even when I Googled it (-just for trivial pursuit-) I couldn't get a clear picture of why..

[@syedalamgir5838]

Take care your ❤

[@76ToneCrome]

I doubt this system was up and running for long. Cuts, cuts, cuts.

[@fidelcatsro6948]

These devices were new and probably sucked a ton of battery power and highly unreliable back then...

[@DasTubemeister]

Belfasts ambulances would soon be even busier with victims of IRA bombs.

[@djdrwatson]

Looks just like a Carry On film! (Carry On Doctor/Nurse/Matron) 😂 How much did smoking, drinking, poor diet and poor working conditions contribute to the heart attacks? 1:17 Was it third time lucky for this man?

[@robbflynn4325]

A lot of heart attacks these days. All ages, women and men.

[@Buff_Cupcake]

All that smoking, drinking, butter and sugar back then.

[@4legsgood]

Are you kidding?