Defibrillators City to get 62 more lifesaving aids
DOZENS more defibrillators will be installed across Bristol – and a lifesaving charity needs your help in deciding where they should go.
Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) has been awarded funding from Bristol City Council for 52 new defibrillators. Along with a further £17,000 raised by the Sam Polledri Foundation, GWAAC is looking to place 62 lifesaving public access defibrillators in Bristol.
GWAAC is asking Bristolians to check if they have a public access defibrillator within a five-minute round trip from the locations where they work, rest and play. If not, they can register their interest in getting one installed.
GWAAC saves lives across Bristol and beyond and its specialist crew are called to around 500 cardiac arrest patients a year. Yet the first precious minutes before they arrive are critical.
Bystander CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and defibrillation before an ambulance arrives can increase cardiac arrest survival rates from less than 10% to more than 70%.
Sam Polledri, a fit and healthy 24-year-old, wasn't one of the fortunate ones. On February 26, 2022 on a night out with friends, he suffered a cardiac arrest in Millennium Square. Despite being surrounded by five defibrillators, none were publicly accessible, and he didn't survive.
Sam's mum, Louise Polledri, said: “If a defibrillator is inside a building but that building is closed it cannot be accessed in an emergency. And if a defibrillator is not registered this means that when a call is made to 999, the call handler cannot see that there is a defibrillator in the area. Defibrillators must be accessible to the public.
“We're hoping the £17,000 funding we have raised for this project will also be used to help people who have existing defibrillators and want a cabinet fitted externally to make them accessible 24/7 with unrestricted access for the community. We'd like to encourage these people to come forward.”
On December 13, 2022, Louise Polledri, along with GWAAC's critical care doctor, Tim Godfrey, and Simon Brookes, a GWAAC volunteer, delivered an impassioned speech to a full council meeting. The 58 councillors unanimously backed a motion for Bristol City Council to commit to improving access to defibrillators.
Further support came from Cllr Ellie King who guided Great Western Air Ambulance Charity to the Bristol City Council Community Infrastructure Levy Funds and from Steve Smith, who was a councillor at the time. Steve supported GWAAC's applications for funding which led to the £93,600 for 52 defibrillators.
Cllr Ellie King said: “I am delighted that GWAAC has been successful in a city-wide council funding bid to secure £93,600 for more defibrillators in the city. This funding will supply 52 new defibrillators, ensuring we keep on track to provide good coverage of defibrillators across the city, along with rolling out resident training on how to use them.“
Dave Battrick from the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) and members Clarkson Evans, Source Electrical, and Electrio are already supporting the Sam Polledri Foundation with defibrillator installations.
The charity has developed a mapping tool to identify hotspots for the placement of new defibrillators. The tool looks at areas of deprivation where there is a lack of public access defibrillators and where there are higher proportions of cardiac arrests occurring, but the charity wants the public to help find exact locations.
By helping to locate 62 public access defibrillators you'll be joining the team effort needed to make Bristol a safer place.
Find out where the nearest defib is to you and register your interest to locate a defibrillator at: