Community prepared for anything now
A RURAL community is now one of the best prepared villages in the Staffordshire Moorlands if a medical emergency occurs.
Following a series of fundraising campaigns, the village of Onecote now has a defibrillator available 24 hours a day, an emergency phone adjacent to the defibrillator and villagers trained to deal with emergencies.
The defibrillator was originally bought some years ago following a fundraising campaign by the village action group.
Peter Hill, landlord at the Jervis Arms public house at the time, provided a home for the defibrillator until it was decided that 24 hour access should be provided.
A spokeswoman said: “In 2016 Onecote Village Hall Trust was successful in its application for a £524 grant from Staffordshire County Council Local Community Fund which paid for a secure cabinet which now houses the defibrillator outside the village hall.
“The village hall has secured £1,827 from the Big Lottery Fund to pay for an emergency phone and line rental.
“This was installed at no cost by local electrician Phil Barker, assisted by committee member Graham Riley. Now, if there is an emergency, people can press the emergency button right next to the defibrillator and be connected directly to the emergency services to obtain the code to access the cabinet without delay.”
But the equipment isn’t the whole story of the village, as the fundraising was underway, the village hall committee also arranged a series of ‘Heart Start’ training courses run by paramedic Marie Frodsham in association with the British Heart Foundation.
As a result more than 50 people from the village and surrounding communities have now been trained to deal with a range of common medical emergencies and have the confidence to use the defibrillator if the need arises.
The village hall committee and parish council, who have overall responsibility for the defibrillator, continue to work together to ensure that this essential equipment and regular training is available to the whole Onecote community.