A new publicly accessible Automated External Defibrillator has been installed at 3B Barbers in Stone. This defibrillator is sited by the entrance to 3B Barbers and was provided by AEDdonate, 3B Barbers owner Rachel Pine and Edward Kent’s wife Cynthia.  The unit has also been registered with the local ambulance service making it accessible to the general public in emergency situations.

Rachel Pine, owner of 3B Barbers, said: “Very sadly one of our much-loved customers had a heart attack and passed away in November, while he was in our shop.

Myself, my staff, as well as passers-by tried to administer CPR until the paramedics and air ambulance arrived, but sadly unsuccessfully.

The outcome of this tragic time is that myself and the customer’s widow, Cynthia, decided we would do some fundraising when lockdown is over.

But we’ve been very fortunate as AEDdonate has donated a defibrillator to be put outside the shop. Myself and Cynthia have paid for the installation and cabinet and 3B Barbers will take up whatever ongoing costs are involved.

As a shop, we will look at doing something once we are open and things have settled down, I personally would like to see more folk who work on the High Street be trained to use it. We are so pleased to be able to have easy access to it now and our end of the High Street. Thankfully something positive has come out of what we all went through back in November.”

Edward’s wife Cynthia added: “It was a great shock to the whole family when Edward died because he was the centre of our lives. It is very difficult to come to terms with this situation when you could not be there in their final moments.

He had been a client at the shop for many years and met many of his ex-colleagues there. The family would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff at the shop who showed him great care and kindness and have continued to extend that to me.

We the family are happy to have raised funds for this and hope it may help someone else in the future. We feel it is a fitting legacy to my husband – he would be very proud.”

Jamie Richards, Chief Executive Officer of Stone-based charity AEDdonate, said: “As an organisation we were extremely saddened to hear of the incident that took place at 3B Barbers.

We were contacted by 3B Barbers through our Town Traders Group and we of course were delighted to help by donating the AED.

The installation and cabinet were funded by 3B Barbers and Cynthia Kent. Our thoughts of course remain with Cynthia and her family at this sad time.”

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

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