Donation will pay for more lifesaving kits in the community

AMBULANCE SERVICE BACKS CAMPAIGN

AN ambulance service has launched a campaign to get more community defibrillators.

North East Ambulance Services (NEAS) is offering help to communities across the region for funding.

It has teamed up with the North East Ambulance Service Charitable Fund to offer £500 towards the total £1,500 cost of community defibrillators. Together, NEAS and the fund aim to support patients and communities by providing lifesaving equipment for victims of cardiac arrest. Having considered health and demographic information from across the region, NEAS has highlighted 60 key areas where a defibrillator would make an important difference. Community development officer Alex Mason states “a victim’s chance of survival falls by around 7-10% with every minute that defibrillation is delayed”.

NEAS regularly calls upon the hundreds of community defibrillators already installed and urge the public to do the same.

Evidence suggests that over a quarter of adults living in the North East currently would not perform CPR or use a defibrillator for fear that they might hurt the person or do it wrong.

Chair of the North East Ambulance Service Charitable Fund, Douglas Taylor, said: “We want to encourage people throughout the region to apply for a community defibrillator if the location falls within one of the key target areas.

“The push for more defibrillators throughout the region is to support community groups to reach a defibrillator in time, if someone is in cardiac arrest to increase their chance of survival.”

■ Visit www.neas.nhs.uk/our-services/community-defibrillators/ funding-opportunities KEY areas where defibrillators are needed NORTHUMBERLAND:

DH8 9 - Blanchland, Edmundbyers, Allensford - Northumberland/ North Durham/DDES

NE67 5 - Ellingham to Beadnell NE44 6 - Riding Mill/Broomhaugh NE26 4 - Whitley Bay GC/Seaton Sluice/Old Hartley NORTHUMBERLAND/NORTH TYNESIDE

NE24 1 - Blyth NEWCASTLE & GATESHEAD: NE1 3 - Newcastle Quayside NE5 3 - Blakelaw/Cowgate NE4 8 - Elswick/Scotswood NE4 6 - Arthur’s Hill

NE13 8 - Woolsington NE1 4 - Leazes, China Town NE6 2 - Byker/St Anthony’s NE4 7 - Elswick/Scotswood NE6 3 - St Anthony’s

NE6 1 - Byker

NE15 6 - Benwell/Scotswood NE1 8 - Newcastle City hall/ Northumbria Uni

NE1 5 - Newcastle Central station towards Newgate St NORTH TYNESIDE:

NE30 1 - North Shields NE29 6 - North Shields NE13 6 - Wideopen, Seaton Burn, Horton Grange

SOUTH TYNESIDE:

NE33 5 - Chicester/Tyne Dock, South Shields

NE33 2 - South Shields