FOUR new lifesaving defibrillators are coming to Westbury next month after the town council and area board successful raised £10,000 for the project.
The four public defibrillators – devices that restart someone’s heart if they are in cardiac arrest – will be located across the town and will be available 24-hours a day.
In addition to the four new defibrillators, the team has purchased a cabinet for the defibrillator located at Leigh Park Community Centre so it can be moved outside the centre and made available when the centre is closed.
Westbury’s community engagement manager, Liam Cripps said, “We’re delighted to say that Westbury will now have five defibrillators available 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
“If anyone can identify other areas where it would be useful to have a public defibrillator installed, please contact me on liam.cripps@wiltshire .gov.uk.”
The new defibrillators will be available at the One Stop Store in Queens Square, Tesco Express on Fore Street, the Westbury Library and at The Laverton.
Laverton marketing and development officer Lilly Bale said, “These will be the first defibrillators that are available at all hours to members of the public.
“The Laverton defibrillator is privately owned and was bought by The Laverton Institute Trust.
“It’s the only one that will have a green light that will shine at night and will be seen by passing cars as well as pedestrians.”
The defibrillators are being installed by the national company HeartSafe. “If we manage to save a life with one of the defibrillators, then the person whose life is saved will get one free from HeartSafe to keep or to donate to the town,” explained Lilly.
“All of the defibrillators will be checked twice a month by Westbury Town Council. This will be reported via the HeartSafe smart tag guardian system that will be monitoring the use and equipment, so they are always ready for any emergency.”
Defibrillators can save people’s lives if they have a heart attack. If used in the first four minutes, defibrillators can give victims an 80% chance of survival – 16 times higher than CPR alone. However, the survival rate drops by 14% for every additional minute, so the quicker one can be brought to the patient, the more effective it is.
Free training will be provided in October to anyone in the community that wants to learn how to use the defibrillators.
