Lifesaving device for fire station
LIFESAVING equipment has been installed at Bollington Fire Station after fundraising in the community.
Following a number of local fundraising events in the area a defibrillator is now available for everyone to use outside the fire station on Albert Road with 24 hour access.
This is thanks to Cheshire Fire Authority and fundraising by Bollington and Macclesfield Community First Responders.
Crew manager Ash Brown took up the cause after realising that there were very few of these devices in the town and worked with Andy Powell from Bollington and Macclesfield Community First Responders, who raised enough money to buy and get the defibrillator fitted to the outside of the fire station.
Defibrillators increase the rate of survival from six per cent to 74 per cent in the event of a person suffering from a cardiac arrest.
Fire Authority member coun Dennis Mahon attended the station to see first-hand how the wall-mounted device will benefit local people.
He said: “The Fire Authority is committed to building safer, stronger and more resilient communities.
“By installing a defibrillator outside Bollington Fire Station it will give everyone that life-saving capability should they need it.”
The defibrillator is stored in a box and is accessed via a 999 call.
The caller asks for the ambulance service and gets a code which will allow them to open the cabinet.
The device is quick and easy to use with voice prompts taking the user through simple step by step instructions.
It will only deliver a shock if it doesn’t detect a heartbeat – thereby ensuring they are not used in the wrong situations.
Andy Powell, Bollington and Macclesfield Community Responder, added: “This is a great asset which was bought for the town by the town, via fundraising, and is now there for anyone that needs to use it, 24/7. I know that, from my experience as a First Responder, cardiac arrests can happen in both young and older people and that modern defibrillators are perfectly safe and easy to use so people shouldn’t worry using them.”