The Parish Council has installed 2 new Automatic external defibrillators in the Parish.
They are located outside the surgery and the primary School.
There is also a defribrillator in the village shop, which is available during normal opening hours.
Our thanks to the generous donations towards the purchase made by the Prep School, FVEC and UDC (through our local County Councillor Marie Felton).
The new defribrillators are on the outside of the buildings and so are available for use 24 hours a day.
If you suspect someone is suffering from a heart attack then always call 999 first. You can then give first aid through compressions to the beat of ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees.
Tell someone to go to the defribrillator, where they will call 999 and the operator will give the person the code to open the box.
The defribillators are designed for use by someone who has NOT received any training.
There are very simple instructions (given verbally, you don’t have to read instructions) to attach the pads to the patient and then the defribillator does its own test to decide whether or not to shock the patient. If a shock is not needed then the defribillator will not deliver it.
If you suspect someone has suffered a heart attack then, as the British Heart Foundation says, the worst thing you could do is nothing:
How to do Hands-only CPR
When somebody collapses in front of you, what do you do?
- Check the person over. If they are not responsive and not breathing, then their heart has stopped working and they are having a cardiac arrest.
- Now, call 999. Then you do Hands-only CPR.
- Lock your fingers together, knuckles up. Then push down, right between the nipples. Push down five or six centimetres. That’s about two inches. Push hard and fast about two times a second, like to the beat of Stayin’ Alive. Don’t worry about hurting someone. A cracked rib can be mended – just concentrate on saving a life.
- Keep this up until the ambulance arrives.
- If someone else is available, then get them to collect the closest defribillator. Switch it on and follow the verbal instructions.
So don’t forget. Check them over. Call 999. Push hard and fast to Stayin’ Alive. It works.
Hands-only CPR. It’s not as hard as it looks.
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