Sarah steps up to defib trek mission
A fundraiser is putting her heart into supporting a local search and rescue team - by visiting the sites of dozens of rural defibrillators on foot.
Sarah Wilde is a member of Trossachs Search and Rescue, which actively manages a network of 101 Public Access Defibrillators.
To date the machines have helped save almost 30 lives.
She is trekking from the debrillator at the Falls of Dochart Retirement Home in Killin to the defibrillator at Cathcart Old Parish Church, passing at least 45 defibrillators en route and completing cleaning and maintenance checks.
She is carrying all her own camping equipment, food, cleaning supplies etc and covering a distance of 120 miles in seven days.
All money raised is going directly to TSAR. On Tuesday, the team posted: “Sarah is now onto day four of her sponsored defib trek. Days two and three saw her walk Callander- Doune Dunblane, Bridge of Allan, Stirling, Cambusbarron, Gargunnock, Kippen Station, Kippen, Arnprior, Buchlyvie and Balfron.
“So far she has walked 74.6 miles in three days and checked 29 defibrillators, highlighting any issues with our Public Access Defibrillator coordinators David and Simon.
“Day four will be a ‘rest day’ for her, walking from Balfron to Fintry and back. Thanks you to everyone who has donated and shared so far. Please keep doing so.”
Trossachs Search & Rescue are currently in need of donations to purchase new equipment such as team radios, personal protective equipment for personnel and the search dogs, a welfare van for use on callouts, team clothing and much much more.
Sarah will be walking for seven days - ending tomorrow (Saturday) - between the team’s most northerly defibrillator at Main Street, Killin, to its farthest south defibrillator in Cathcart Old Parish Church.
As well as raising funds for the team and helping to maintain the debrillators, she is also documenting her trek and uploading photographs and information on social media.
She said: “The hope is to spread awareness of our life-saving PAD project whilst raising much needed funds for the team.”
Trossachs Search and Rescue was formed in 1998 and is a community based Scottish charity. It has 38 volunteers ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
TSAR has no paid staff and is entirely funded by public donations. The annual running cost exceeds £40,000.
Sarah added: “We can be deployed by multiple agencies including Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and Police Scotland.
“Our USAR (Urban Search & Rescue) dogs have attended many major incidents including the Stockline plastics factory explosion, Clutha pub helicopter tragedy, missing person searches and house explosions.
“We currently have 17 Community First Responders (with others awaiting training) who are deployed by the Scottish Ambulance Service to certain ‘Category A’ calls in advance of the ambulance. As a team we also respond to out of hours TECS calls on behalf of Stirling Council and provide Community CPR classes.
“In 2013 we initiated our Public Access Defibrillator program to place Public Access Defibrilators (PADS) across the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park and surrounding areas.
“We are proud to now have over 150 PADS in place. We actively maintain 101 of these, completing monthly maintenance checks ensuring all units remain operationally ready for use in an emergency.
“In 2016 we launched our own Defib Locator App which pinpoints the location of all PAD units that we manage. The app can be downloaded at https://www.trossachsdefibrillator.co.uk/
“So far there have been 28 lives saved (as of April 2022) from use of these Public Access Defibrillators.”
Donate at https://www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/walkwithwildey