Sizzling community campaign for defibrillators
Gigha residents joined forces with the Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) to raise funds for two community defibrillators through a sizzling salmon barbecue. The aquaculture firm, which has a site at Highfield on the island, donated £250 and enough salmon to fill every empty stomach at last Saturday’s event on Ministers Beach. The rain stayed at bay and the sun peeked out as SSC site manager Chris Smyth and senior marine operative Ross Fennell grilled the salmon, while guests brought along salad and other accompaniments. The barbecue raised £520 and a raffle made an additional £480, bringing the total raised, including other donations, to £2,500. Other pledges came from: Holt Enterprises, which runs the island’s halibut farm, £100; Scottish Water, £250; Gigha Community Council, £250; Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust, £125; Gigha Trading Ltd, £125; Gigha Hotel, £200; Gigha Challenge organisers, £200. ‘It’s absolutely incredible,’ said Gigha community nurse Anne Shaw. ‘It means we will be able to buy two AEDs, or defibrillators, and cases for them both. ‘One will be based at the shop and the other at the community hall.’ Defibrillators are machines which deliver high-energy electric shocks to the hearts of those in cardiac arrest. No training is required to operate them, and the units, which are fully portable once removed from their cases, give clear prompts if a shock is required. The Sandpiper Trust, which aims to help save lives in rural Scotland, where emergency services are not always nearby, facilitated the purchase of Gigha’s machines VAT-free, saving enough money that two could be purchased instead of one. The organisation also provided Sandpiper Bags, standardised portable and effective immediate care medical kits for doctors and nurses in remote areas, devised by the BASICS Scotland medical team. ‘The Sandpiper Trust has been great,’ Anne said. ‘Anything we need, they’ve come up trumps. ‘But we couldn’t have done it without everyone who supported the fundraiser, the people of Gigha are absolutely fantastic when it comes to things like this.’ The tasty salmon went down a storm, with locals still talking about the event and hoping for a repeat. ‘The boys at the fish farm worked really hard,’ Anne added. ‘The salmon was delicious and cooked to perfection.’ SSC installed defibrillators at all 60 of its sites in the west coast of Scotland and Hebrides and at its head office in Edinburgh last year after a staff member suffering a major cardiac arrest was saved by quick-thinking colleagues who used an on-site defibrillator.