14 February 2023 - Defibrillator awareness / training on March 3rd
As you probably all know, the Sutton Poyntz Society got a defibrillator for the village. It was over 5 years ago and we’ve recently had to replace the batteries and the electric pads.
The defibrillator cabinet is located behind The Springhead near the entrance to the kitchens and The Duck Bar. If you haven’t actually been to see it, make sure you do… (Other nearby defibrillators are at the Preston Village Hall and (coming soon) at the St Andrew’s Church Rooms.)
It’s being discussed whether we should have another, probably at the Phonebox, but we’ll have to do some fund-raising as we’re talking about £1500-£2000.
It’s good to be familiar with how to use one, but they’re automatic (could even say foolproof) and they provide voice guidance to step you through the process. And they definitely can’t hurt anyone. From time-to-time, usually after a Coffee Morning, we get the local First Responders to come to the Mission Hall and give us a short demo and a reminder of how to do CPR.
And we will be running a session at the next Coffee Morning on March 3rd 2023.
Something that’s useful to know is that if you call 999 because someone has chest pains, they will of course send an ambulance - but they will also ask if there is a defibrillator nearby and suggest you send someone to fetch it. If it’s your spouse or partner lying on the floor you’ll probably want to stay with them, so it’s a good idea to think now who you would call to fetch the defibrillator. You’ll probably choose a neighbour (or someone living near the defibrillator) but once you have decided who it is (and of course asked them) you might also suggest they attend this next defibrillator awareness session with you. And put their phone number in your speed-dial / favourites!
It’s a great comfort to know that, if your patient takes a turn for the worse, you have a defibrillator right there beside you – just-in-case. There’s no need to open it up, and certainly not to open the sterile* electric-pad package, nor to get out the special scissors and start cutting their clothes off!
* Yes, the pads are sealed, can only be used once, and cost the best part of £100 to replace. Guess who we’ll ask to pay for a replacement! But if they did their job I can’t think of anything with such good value!
J & S