A brand new defibrillator has been installed in Peasedown St John thanks to a councillor-led campaign, located next to the village’s main through road, Bath Road.
Cllr Karen Walker (Independent) allocated more than £800 from her Initiative Fund to pay for the device to be installed at The Red Post Inn.
Karen said: “This is the fourth device of its kind to be installed in Peasedown. Defibrillators have proven to be life saving with more than 200 people a day suffering an unexpected cardiac arrest, with the chances of survival increasing by 50% with early defibrillation.
“For every minute that passes, the chances of survival decrease by more than 20%.
“Defibrillators therefore need to be as common as fire extinguishers in all public places and workplaces.
“This location at The Red Post Inn is not only next to Bath Road, the route to the village’s social and economic centre, but also adjacent to both the Recreation Ground and the Cricket Club. Both are used regularly by our local football, cricket and croquet teams who may need to use the defibrillator in future.”
As the name suggests, defibrillation stops fibrillation, the trembling that a person’s heart muscles can adopt during a cardiac arrest.
Simply speaking, a defibrillator works by using a high-voltage (around 200–1,000 volts) to pass an electric current through the heart so it stops working, and is then shocked into beating normally again at the correct rate.
This new defibrillator is one of 23 new machines that have been/are being installed across the local authority.
Cllr Walker’s Peasedown colleague, Cllr Sarah Bevan (Independent) also contributed funding to the Red Post’s new defibrillator, and secured the funding for the new machine at the Prince of Wales Inn back in January.
Cllr Sarah Bevan added: “With defibrillators now strategically located outside the Co-op, Circle Hospital, Prince of Wales Inn and Red Post Inn, as a community we’re covering all four corners of the village should an emergency arise.
“I’m extremely pleased that Cllr Walker and I have been successful in securing council cash for two machines – it’s an extremely good use of taxpayers’ money.”
