By Isle of Wight Observer
A new community access defibrillator has been installed at Lifeline Fire & Security outside of their offices at Riverway, Newport by Lifeline and Medina Foodservice, with support from Buywise and Premier Ford.
This now makes it possible for even more people to respond to a medical emergency around the Riverway area where a defibrillator is required and part of an increasing-network of Defibrillators across the Island.
Over 30,000 people suffer from sudden cardiac arrest at home or in public places, in the UK each year. If a defibrillator is used and CPR is performed within 3 to 5 minutes, the chances of survival are dramatically increased from 6% to 74%.
These shocking statistics led Jean Lee, Director of Lifeline and Steve Ross, managing Director of Medina Foodservice to reach out to Buywise and Premier Ford, to help provide towards the funding for the new unit.
Jean comments: “Having access to a defibrillator can help to improve survival outcomes for sudden cardiac arrest, so I felt that it was our social responsibility to provide a defibrillator for the local community and base this at Lifeline.”
To further support the new defibrillator, Cindy Newnham & Ann Goldsmith of Lifeline have also attended a CPR & Defibrillator training course at the IW Chamber or Commerce, and whilst they are hoping never to have to use it, it is there, ready for use by any member of the public in the vicinity. The unit has also been registered with the local Ambulance Station and on the HeartSafe location map.
Louise Walker of IW NHS Trust, Head of the Ambulance Training and Community Response Services (ATCoRs) adds: “On behalf of the IW NHS Trust Ambulance Service I would like to genuinely thank Lifeline Fire & Security, Medina Foodservice, Buywise and Premier Ford for investing in this lifesaving piece of equipment.
“Our extended appreciation goes to Lifeline Security for installing and housing the defibrillator in an outside wall box, kindly donated by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), making it available to the community 24/7.”
