Funds buy four vital lifesavers for glen
The sad death of a man from a cardiac arrest galvanised several Perthshire settlements to get lifesaving machines for community use.
Logiealmond and Glenalmond in Perthshire has become the latest rural community to install a network of lifesaving defibrillators with help from the charity, St John Scotland.
Four public access defibrillators, which can help save someone’s life if they have a cardiac arrest, have been installed in Buchanty, Harrietfield, Chapelhill and outside Glenalmond College, in highprofile locations signposted from the main roads.
They are all available 24/7 for use in an emergency.
The project has been a community effort led by Amanda Farquhar, who worked with inhabitants of the glen to raise the £6000 necessary to deliver this crucial local resource.
Amanda said: “This project was sparked by Lindsey Goring, whose lovely partner and father of their two sons, Olly O’Grady, died unexpectedly last year.
“We started aiming for one defibrillator but, such was the amazing response of the community, we can now install four at strategic points round the glen.
“Our aim was to ensure that the vast majority of our residents were within about 1.5 miles of a defibrillator, which we are very close to achieving.
“As a rural community, we are well aware of the heightened risk to us all in the event of a cardiac arrest.
“In addition to our residents, we have a lot of visitors and workers who pass through the area every day. This will be a highly visible aid which will benefit us all.
“If only one life is saved in the next few years, it will have been worth it.”
Amanda added: “We are very grateful to St John Scotland, both for their support and their generous donation and look forward to the training they can offer when it is safe to do so.”
If used within the first few minutes of cardiac arrest, defibrillators can significantly increase a person’s chances of survival.
When switched on, the machine mounted on a wall reads instructions aloud, so it can be used by anyone, with no training required.
The chairman of St John Scotland’s Perth and Kinross committee, Janice Webster, said: “We’re incredibly impressed by the huge community effort in Logiealmond and Glenalmond to raise funds for this project. There is no doubt that this will save and improve lives.
“Around 70 people each week in Scotland have a sudden cardiac arrest, but currently, only around one in ten will survive.
“A combination of applying CPR and using a defibrillator can make all the difference between life and death.
“We want to work with communities across Perthshire to make sure more people know how to do CPR, and have easy access to a defibrillator.”
Janice continued: “Our local St John Scotland volunteers will be working with the Logiealmond and Glenalmond community to organise training days when the COVID situation allows.
“In the meantime, anyone responding to a cardiac arrest can access the defibrillators all of which have full, unrestricted access.
“You don’t need to be trained to use it - even a child could operate it.”
St John Scotland is also encouraging other communities across Perthshire to get in touch if they would like help to install a defibrillator locally.
More information can be found at www. stjohnscotland.org.uk