The British Heart Foundation has donated five defibrillators to selected fire stations across Lincolnshire.
This equipment is becoming more common in public areas and it can boost a persons chances of survival during cardiac arrest to 68%.
The five communities who will benefit from this scheme are Waddington, Market Deeping, Mablethorpe, Spilsby and North Somercotes. People from all of these villages are being urged to take part in a training session to learn how to use the equipment as well as being taught the crucial skills needed to help someone when they are in cardiac arrest.
The awareness sessions are being run by East Midlands Ambulance Service with community resuscitation trainers. This opportunity is especially important for rural villages across Lincolnshire who may have to wait as long as 15-20 minutes for an ambulance.
Stephen Hyde from the charity LIVES (Lincolnshire Integrated Voluntary Emergency Service) stresses how important defibrillator equipment is: “When somebody’s heart goes into cardiac arrest it turns into, in layman’s terms, jelly. ”
“The defibrillator stops this allowing the brain, if still oxygenated, to restart the heart back to its normal rhythm.”
“In rural areas like Lincolnshire it is very difficult during busy times of the day for an ambulance to get to the patient within the optimal eight minutes,” Mr Hyde explained.
LIVES began in the early seventies and has the mantra to get to anybody who dials 999 in six minutes or less and receives around 17,000 calls each year dealing from emergency response to serious trauma.
The dates of the sessions have not yet been announced for Spilsby and Mablethorpe but the rest are as follows:
- Waddington Fire Station – Tuesday 15 March, 6pm
- North Somercotes Fire Station – Wednesday 6 April, 6pm
- Market Deeping Fire Station – Thursday 7 April, 6pm
For more information click here.
