The Stone community will better protected when a Public Access Defibrillator (AED) is installed in the High Street on Saturday (27th September) in memory of the late Mark Symonds and Dr Farnham.
The AED is to be installed on the wall of the Co-Operative supermarket and will be available for public use 24 hours a day, seven days a week, once the code has been received from West Midlands Ambulance Service.
Jamie Richards, managing director at Stone-based AED Donate (provider of life-saving defibrillators), said: “The chance of survival after sudden cardiac arrest decreases minute by minute, but if someone is shocked with a defibrillator within three minutes their chance of survival increases by 70%. Having an AED within a one-mile radius from wherever you are, I believe, is a must.”
If you are available to attend the launch on 27th September at 11am, the AED Donate team will be there to provide a demonstration of the defibrillator unit and give general advice and information.
Victoria Tufail, West Midlands Ambulance Service Community Response Manager, added: “It is great news that a new defibrillator will be installed in Stone. If anyone dials 999 on behalf of a patient who is in cardiac arrest in the area, the caller will be advised of the location of the defibrillator and provided with the code to open the secure cabinet in which it is housed. The ambulance call assessor has the ability to talk any caller, defibrillator-trained or not, from instructions on how to use the device as well as CPR techniques. The defibrillator itself also provides voice guidance throughout.”
The AED for Stone High Street has been purchased with locally raised funds from an event held in memory of Mark Symonds, called ‘Party for Life’, which was held at The Mill. Other donations have come from proceeds from the collection at Dr Farnham’s funeral, kindly donated by Joyce Farnham; and donations from the Stone Lions and RMP Care, Stone, with the assistance of Stone Community First Responders, Jamie Richards of AED Donate, The Mill Hotel and Restaurant, T & J Smith Building and Maintenance Contractors, the Co-Operative in Stone, Natalie Mason, Glyn Ravenscroft of Stone Lions, Heather McLeod, Matthew Cooke and Mick Berry.
If you would like more information on how you or your business can donate a defibrillator to a Community Public Access Site visit www.aeddonate.co.uk
Elsewhere in the town, there are public access defibrillators on the Whitebridge industrial estate and at Stone Tennis Club on Newcastle Road.
