Public backing can help to save lives

A community first aid manager has urged communities to band together and pay for life-saving equipment.

There are just seven publicly-accessible defibrillators across Newark and Balderton, which has a population of more than 37,000.

That compares to Collingham — where fewer than 4,000 people live — which has four.

A defibrillator is a vital piece of equipment that administers a high energy electrical shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest.

It can be the difference between life and death in the moments before an ambulance reaches the patient.

Mr Philip Jessop, of Newark Community First Aid, said: “The ambulance service is stretched and won’t get to everybody in a particular time frame.

“So it needs a grassroots push. It needs people to get the ball rolling.

“Statistically, 80% of cardiac arrests occur in people’s homes and yet defibrillators are fairly sparse when you think about Newark.

“It is a matter of people having the will to do it.”

The publicly-accessible defibrillators in Newark are in a converted telephone box near the town hall; at the new offices of Newark and Sherwood District Council on Great North Road; on Boundary Road near Sconce and Devon Park; at Newark Fire Station; on Riverside Road; and by the Odeon Cinema.

In addition to the six publicly-accessible defibrillators in Newark, there are others at locations including Newark Northgate Railway Station.

'They are so easy to use'

Balderton Parish Council is planning for two new defibrillators to be installed by next May, one of which would be in the Main Street area.

There is one already on the clubhouse of the cricket club.

The council has unsuccessfully approached both Sainsbury’s and Tesco for funding, and may now pay for the equipment itself.

“It would be nice if you could ring for an ambulance and it be there, always, in eight or nine minutes,” said Mr Keith Walker, chairman of the parish council.

“But we know that is impossible — and a defibrillator can save a life.

“They are so easy to use. Ideally, you would have one on every street corner.”

Collingham’s four publicly- accessible defibrillators — at the fire station, youth and community centre, William Bailey House and the village cricket club — were bought following sizeable donations.

Money was sent after the parish council’s emergency committee discussed possible options around three years ago.

“Ambulance response times at that time were next to useless,” said parish clerk Caron Ballantyne.

“Even first responders cannot get to the village that quickly. So we did not even need to do fundraising and, because we were buying four at once, we got a discount.”

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is open to grant applications while funds are available.

If an application is successful, it will meet part of the cost and the applicant must provide £600.

The BHF does not provide the cabinet defibrillators are stored in.

For more information about the scheme, contact the BHF.