The device had been donated by the Rotary Club International. There are now many of these devices in and around Buckingham. Local hero Geoff Shaw (of the Rotary Club but also his own charity - The Buckingham AED Project) has been steadily plugging away at getting these plugged in all over the town!
Peter Bartlett, local Rotary president and Rotary District Governor, Chalmers Cursley were able to explain how the funding was found for this latest device and how it fitted into a wider plan across several counties.
Unusually, notably and most nobly, Sue and John Tierney kindly agreed for the device to be placed on their home at 44 Badgers Way. This is opposite where the shop used to be on Badgers. (Sue and John are in the middle of the picture to the right of the AED box.)
To quote from Geoff's newsletter:
BUCKINGHAM AED PROJECT
Sudden Cardiac Arrest is a condition in which the heart stops beating suddenly and unexpectedly owing to a malfunction in the heart’s electrical system. It often strikes without warning. People of all ages, fitness levels and walks of life can experience one.
There are 250+ SCAs per day: this is equivalent to a jumbo jet crash every day. In the UK less than 5% of victims survive out of hospital.
Prompt use of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) raises this survival rate to 9%. However the prompt use of an AED (automated external defibrillator) raises this up to 50% ormore.
If an AED is used within 8 minutes, there is a very good chance of complete survival. As time increases, obviously survival rates will decrease sharply. Because they are so simple to use, they can be administered by any member of the public before the arrival of an ambulance or a first responder following the 999 call.
At one time for a town of its size Buckingham had very few first responders on call with no publicly accessible defibrillators. As time is of the essence in this emergency, a group of residents formed a charity in Spring 2014 to launch a project to facilitate the provision of publicly accessible AEDs in Buckingham and to encourage and foster new volunteers to be first responders.Also on hand yesterday was Robin Harding who is one of our local Community First Responders. You can read more about this service here and perhaps consider becoming one yourself.
(But do note that you do not need to be trained to use the AED fixed to the walls: they come with full instructions and they even talk you through what you have to do!)
My view is that hopefully these devices and our first responders will never need to be used. But the fact that they are there means that we all feel a little safer and our community is therefore a little stronger as a result. Which is a good social result in my book!
My thanks to Valerie Shaw and Susan Tierney for the good photographs above (mine is the wonky one!)
Below is the rest of Geoff's newsletter for your information. Do note the locations he mentions. Furthermore there are apps available to you to know where your nearest AED is. Just search on AED - there is one by the South Central Ambulance Service.
Progress so far
We feel we have a come a long way over the last 3 years in meeting our initial aims and we have enjoyed good and helpful public support. We now wish to complete the job in the reasonably near future.
Surgeries, Dental Practices, the University, Stowe National Trust, Swan Pool, Primary and Secondary schools, the Rugby Club, Buckingham Athletic Football Club and the Golf Club now have these machines, in some cases through our efforts, but we felt a year ago that Buckingham should have these available in places of high footfall for public access. We have now provided three public access defibrillators with 24 hour access in the town as a first priority and
these have been joined by units at Bourton Meadow School, Lace Hill Community Centre and on the wall of the Woolpack Inn.
We are working with the Buckingham Rotary Club to put one sponsored by Rotary in the Badgers Estate and hopefully this will be operational by June.
As far as nearby villages are concerned, Winslow, Adstock, Gawcott, Swanbourne and Maids Moreton had already installed them in public areas and we have now added to these with units at the University playing fields and in Great Horwood, Akeley, Dadford and Little Horwood. There will soon be a further one in Preston Bissett. We are having discussions for new units in Chackmore, Lillingstone Lovell and Beachampton. With this first phase now almost completed ahead of schedule, we manage and monitor a total of 15 defibrillators.
We are also now well into phase 2 of the Project to foster, encourage and support more volunteer Community First Responders for the town. Six are now active and one more is giving it serious consideration.
Public awareness
A crucial part of the Project is to get people aware of the existence of defibrillators in the town and their usefulness in the saving of lives of those who are victims of cardiac arrest in view of the short time available to take action. We need to convince people that these machines are safe and very easy to use, as the defibrillator itself tells you exactly what to do.
We are therefore demonstrating this in all our fund-raising and we regularly try to persuade organisations to hold public awareness sessions of no more than 30 minutes as part of their membership and our help. Two new ventures have been family first aid sessions at the Buckingham Community Centre and Tesco with the help of Bucks First Aid and the Fire Brigade: we would like to do more. We have also taken part in the Buckingham Carnival, where in the last three years we have been awarded rosettes for the adult category.
With the aid of all our supporters it is very important that we convince a person that, if they find themselves on the scene in an emergency, they really could operate one of these machines and save a life. It is already obvious that there is widespread ignorance and fear in the minds of many people. A machine is useless if someone near in an emergency is afraid to use it.
Fund-raising. Events in the autumn of 2016 included a “Flag Day” in the centre of the town on the morning of 24 September and a public collection in the foyer of Tesco over the weekend of 15-16 October. We also held two big raffles, primarily to raise funds for the Woolpack unit in the context of special events to celebrate the Cornish pasty and the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau. In all our fund-raising we demonstrate the use of the defibrillator. We have enjoyed splendid support from citizens in the town.
For further details please contact Geoff Shaw on 01280 812547 or geoff.icf@btinternet.com
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