Rossall Beach Residents & Community Group have provided an Automatic External Debrillator (AED) adjacent to the shingle beach at Cleveleys for use by the public, and are inviting everyone to come to an information session at 3pm on Tuesday 5 April at Cleveleys Community Centre, to see how to use it should they need to in an emergency.
Your chance of surviving an out of hospital Cardiac Arrest is significantly improved up to 80% with early CPR and defibrillation; without this, a person’s chance of surviving will decrease by 7-10% for every minute that treatment is delayed.
Jane Littlewood, Chair of the Group explains “The UK Resuscitation Council suggests that a defibrillator should be available wherever medical treatment is more than 5 minutes away. Our beach is always such an incredibly busy place and next to an area of dense housing , so being able to provide this facility is a wonderful benefit to the many hundreds of visitors and local residents.”
The Rossall Beach Group has been working with the North West Ambulance Service to provide this piece of equipment for use by any member of the public in case of a medical emergency. Having dialled 999 for emergency assistance, the operator will provide, when deemed appropriate, a digital code to access the AED.
The commissioning process is underway and the AED is expected to be fully functional and ready for use early in April. One important part of this commissioning process is to make as many people as possible aware of what a defibrillator is and what it can do.
David Hewitt, Group Secretary said “we would like to invite everyone to a familiarisation session which will cover basic life support skills and a demonstration of how to use the AED. It’s aimed at everyone who wishes to be familiar with an AED and is designed to remove fears about using one and give the user confidence.
“The event at Cleveleys Community Centre, Beach Road on Tuesday 5th April starts at 3 pm and will be hosted by North West Ambulance Service. The session will be very informal and we would like as many people as possible to attend, it’s about having the confidence rather than the competence to use one.”
Cheryl Pickstock from North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust added “It’s great to be able to work with and support the Rossall community to place this vital piece of life-saving equipment for public use. In the UK, over 60,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests occur every year and without early defibrillation, that person has a very limited and minimal chance of survival. With more Community Public Access Defibrillators (CPADs) around, more lives can be saved. There is no legal requirement to be trained in defibrillation, the AED is designed to guide the user through its use, but having the ‘confidence’ to use one means the AED will be used without hesitation or delay.
“Similar public access defibrillators are being installed throughout the country and the more people that are aware of these units and not afraid of them, the more successful the outcomes will be – not just on Rossall Beach but elsewhere – and therefore I would ask you to make every effort to attend.”
Everyone is welcome to attend this free session; there is no need to be a member of the group and no need to book a place. For further information see www.rossallbeach.org.uk, or telephone 01253 829390
