Geddington’s newest addition to community welfare is now operational.
“We are pleased to announce that the new Geddington Community Public Access Defibrillator (cPAD) has now been placed inside its security box, within the old BT telephone box, outside the Post Office in Queen Street.” said Louise Chambers, one of the members of the team who have been active in getting this excellent service in action.
Louise continued: “It is fully operational and registered with the ambulance service. However, 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.”
It has taken the team almost a year to get to this point and has, at times, “been quite stressful, trying to ensure we make the correct decisions, but we are thrilled that our community now has this life-saving piece of equipment available.” There is still some decorating to be done to the box, which will be done when the weather allows, in the spring.
Louise continued: “We have a huge list of people to thank for their help and support in this project and will be acknowledging this soon with a ‘Thank You’ board inside the box. Once it’s inside the box, please take a look – we found it very heartening to see how helpful members of our community, and beyond, can be when it comes to projects such as this. In the meantime, we do have to say a massive ‘thank you’ to the Geddington Volunteer Fire Brigade who funded the cabinet and defibrillator.”
Whilst the machine can be used safely by members of the public with no medical training, in order to build confidence in the community, it has been arranged for an instructor from the Community Heartbeat Trust (CHT), to provide an awareness session.
The course will take place on Tuesday 12th January at 7pm in the Village Hall.
The CHT community awareness ‘Heartbeat Programme’ is unique and has been recognised as being ideal for a rural community, as it raises awareness of issues surrounding treating a patient in the community. It is not a formal classroom course, but designed to answer questions and teaches basic instruction, to create confidence.
The 2 hour session includes:
1. What is sudden cardiac arrest
– 5 minutes to save a life
– physiology of the heart
2. How to recognise SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest)
3. How to dial 999
– what to expect
– questions you will be asked
4. How to do CPR and why
5. How to use your AED
6. Recovery position/turning a patient
7. Handing over to paramedics
8. Governance and support programmes
This session is FREE to members of the community, so PLEASE do come along if you can. Who knows – the little bit of knowledge you receive may, one day, help you to save a life.