When a group of mums went on a first aid course organised by Geddington School’s Parents’ Association, they were given some shocking statistics concerning survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and told how important early defibrillation is to a patient’s survival. To achieve a positive outcome when dealing with SCA, medical assistance must be given within four-five minutes of the event.
However, in rural areas it can take more than eight minutes for an emergency medical team to arrive on scene. When their instructor mentioned that many rural villages are starting to fundraise to place defibrillators within their communities - Community Public Access Defibrillators or cPADs - often located in high visibility cabinets outside buildings such as village halls or post offices, the group of mums wondered whether it might be possible to get a defibrillator into Geddington.
They started researching and discovered a charity called the Community Heartbeat Trust (CHT) which specialises in getting defibrillators into rural communities. The CHT has been a great resource of information and guidance, helping to choose what type of defibrillator might be suitable, suggesting ideal locations and the ongoing governance required to keep it registered with the ambulance service. The main initiators, Kerry Audis and Louise Chambers, then also approached the Geddington Volunteer Fire Brigade to see if they might be able to assist in fundraising to buy the defibrillator and the cabinet, and were absolutely amazed when they offered the full amount!
Placing the unit was not straightforward as both the gel pads and the battery in the defibrillator need to be kept above a certain temperature and, therefore, need power. This left Kerry & Louise with only a couple of suitable locations within the village, but when they learned about a partnership scheme between CHT and BT to place defibrillators within underused phone boxes the answer became clear. Geddington is lucky in that its phone kiosk is placed next to the Village Hall where many village and sporting events take place so this location also made sense geographically. The Parish Council agreed to adopt the phone kiosk under the scheme, and the cabinet now receives free electricity from BT to keep the defibrillator inside heated.
A year on, the defibrillator is now up and running and live with the ambulance service. It is located in a high visibility yellow cabinet inside the BT Phone Kiosk outside the Post Office on Queen Street. The cabinet is locked and can only be opened by a member of the public with an access code given by the emergency services via a 999 call.
Whilst the machine can be used safely by members of the public with no medical training, in order to build confidence within the community, the Community Heartbeat Trust will be offering an awareness session on Tuesday 12th January at 7pm in Geddington Village Hall. The course will include information on recognising cardiac arrest, administering CPR and how to use the defibrillator. If you would like to attend this session, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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