Life-saving defibrillator in St. Mary’s Wendover
St. Mary’s Church is to become the fourth site in Wendover to have a defibrillator. In addition, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has provided a Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training kit. The church is extremely grateful to have received these lifesaving items following their successful application for a ‘Nation of Lifesavers Community Package’ from the charity.
The innovative Community Package contains everything needed in order to learn CPR in half an hour. St. Mary’s Church and U3A, who make extensive use of the church, plan to run training sessions in the local community meaning that anyone can become a potential lifesaver.
The first training session will be on Thursday 25th February at 19:00 in St Mary’s church. The following session will be on Monday 21st March at 14:00.
The defibrillator is a portable device that can be used by a member of the public to help restart the heart when someone has a cardiac arrest. A cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping blood around the body and the sufferer loses consciousness almost at once. For every minute that passes without defibrillation and CPR chances of survival decrease by around ten per cent. So it’s really important that everyone using the church knows both of these vital steps in order to help someone in such an emergency.
Judy O’Sullivan, Assistant Programme Director at the BHF, said: “More than 30,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital every year but less than one in ten survive. More people could be saved if more defibrillators were available in public places and if more people felt confident using them and performing CPR. We are delighted that St. Mary’s Wendover have joined the BHF’s Nation of Lifesavers campaign – by making another defibrillator available] and teaching CPR locally. It could really be the difference between life and death. ”
To date the BHF have helped place over 13,000 life-saving defibrillators in communities around the UK. The BHF asks for a contribution of £400 towards each defibrillator as part of the Community Package. To find out more about defibrillators and how to place one in your organisation or community visit www.bhf.org.uk.
For more information on how you can help BHF create a Nation of Lifesavers visit bhf.org.uk/lifesavers.