St Thomas of Canterbury and Shalfleet Primary Schools have become the latest 24/7 Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) sites for the Isle of Wight NHS Ambulance service.
This is thanks to the Wight Strollers donating their seventh Public Access Defibrillator and the Island Savoyards giving an outside wall defibrillator case to the Ambulance Service’s community defibrillator scheme.
Louise Walker, Head of Head of Ambulance Training & Community Response Services (ATCoRS) said:
“Words cannot express our sincere gratitude to The Wight Strollers and The Island Savoyards theatre groups for their generosity; they really are true credits to our Island community. We are also extremely grateful to St Thomas of Canterbury and Shalfleet Primary Schools for housing the PAD’s, being our site guardians and allowing these lifesaving devices to be available to the whole community 24/7.
“32 year old Laura Summers of Sandown Bay Academy, who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest whilst at work, is a fine example of why it is just so important that all schools have immediate access to a defibrillator. It’s the safe use of the defibrillator and good quality effective CPR that can increase someone’s chance of survival from an out of hospital cardiac arrest, from as little as 5% to as much as 74%.”
Did you know?
• A cardiac arrest is when a casualty becomes unconscious and is not breathing normally because the heart has stopped pumping oxygenated blood around the body.
• A defibrillator will analyse a casualty’s heart rhythm and will only shock them if needed
• For every minute that passes without defibrillation and Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), chances of survival decrease by around ten per cent.
• It’s the first 3 minutes that are absolutely time critical with regards to recognition of cardiac arrest, good quality CPR and early defibrillation.
Information on CPR can be found on the NHS Choices website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/first-aid/cpr/.
