A new public access defibrillator has been installed at Latchford Methodist Church. The AED has been registered with the local ambulance service and is available to the public 24/7.
Rev Linda Bishop from Latchford Methodist Church said “We are a family church located within a residential housing area in excess of 16,000 people. Located nearby are shops, chemists, doctors, dentists, gyms, schools, public houses, vets, a residential care home and several business premises. A main road linking local towns with a busy bus stop passes outside our door.
We are always looking to further develop our active work within the community and viewed installing and maintaining a public accessible CPAD, in an area that didn’t have any, as vital to supporting the health of our community. A local survey confirmed there was a lot of local support from both residents and businesses.
AEDdonate were fantastic in providing us with a grant and advice on fundraising. Our local borough council provided the rest of the funding and then AEDdonate provided the defibrillator, steel cabinet and offered to fund a local electrician to complete the install. As a final touch AEDdonate included a high quality plaque listing our donors that can be displayed next to the CPAD. AEDdonate then registered the CPAD with both our local ambulance service and the national CPAD database, steps which can be easily overlooked.
Jamie Richards, Chief Executive Officer of Stone-based charity AEDdonate, said: “We are delighted that Latchford Methodist Church now have a brand new public access defibrillator installed. Congratulations to everyone involved for keeping their community safe in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest.”
AEDdonate covers the whole of the UK to raise awareness, knowledge and confidence in the safe use of defibrillators and CPR as well as fitting them within local communities.
To donate to the charity from home visit aeddonate.org.uk, or to discuss fundraising for a community defibrillator in your local area call 01785 472 224.
The chance of survival after Sudden Cardiac Arrest decreases minute by minute, but if someone is shocked with a defibrillator within 3 minutes their chance of survival increases by 70 %. Having an AED within a 1/2-mile radius from wherever you are I believe is a must. We would welcome further communities to get in touch to see if we can help.” If anyone dials 999 to a patient who is in cardiac arrest in the area, the caller will be advised on the location of the defibrillator and provided with the code to open the secure cabinet in which it is housed. The ambulance call assessor has the ability to talk to any caller, defibrillator trained or not, through instructions on how to use the device as well as CPR techniques. The defibrillator itself also provides voice guidance throughout and pictorial guides are also present.
If you would like more information on how you or your business can donate a defibrillator to a Community Public Access Site visit www.aeddonate.org.uk