In 2013 DDRA purchased 4 defibrillator cabinets and defibrillators for the local community. It is well known that if someone goes into cardiac arrest and can be given access to a defibrillator in the first few minutes, their chances of recovery and survival are much improved.
They are all on outside walls to give 24/7 access and they are sited at:
- Bentley Heath Community Centre on Widney Road
- Outside Vernon James butchers on the corner of Widney Road and Slater Road
- Dorridge Village Hall
- Outside Sainsbury’s next to the Pharmacy in the centre of Dorridge
If someone collapses, phone 999. The defibrillators are all registered with the West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) and you will be advised that there is a defibrillator nearby, given the key code to open it and talked through how to use it.
Our local first responder team, FastAid, led by Terry Flower, checks the defibrillators, monitors the dates of pads and lets us know when they need replacing; it is important that they are all always “rescue-ready”. DDRA funds the maintenance on behalf of the local community.
FastAid also give training sessions known as Heartstart sessions to help us teach as many people as possible what to do if they see someone collapse. This can be a very frightening event and it really helps to have thought through what you should do so that you have an idea as to how to respond. The sessions are organised jointly with DDRA, who pay for the hire of premises (usually Dorridge Village Hall) and advertise the sessions. We have held about 15 of these sessions over the past 8-9 years; they are informative and enjoyable, and partly because of them there is a greater awareness of how to respond to such events within our community.
We are now introducing Bleed Kits into the defibrillator cabinets. These are supplied by the WMAS and are designed to help staunch the flow of blood following a stabbing or other traumatic event, as this really helps limit the severe blood loss that can happen quite quickly.
In future Heartstart sessions there will be a section added explaining what is in each Bleed Kit and how to use it if it is needed.
We hold Heartstart sessions about twice a year.
If you would like to come to our next one, please register here
Jane Holt will reply to acknowledge your request and will then let you know once the next session has been arranged.