COLEBROOKE parish has two defibrillators thanks mainly to donations from local people, initiated by local farmer Steve Smith, chairman of Colebrooke Parish Council.
He was co-ordinator of the successful fundraising. The parish council has arranged for the routine checks that are needed of the machines and informed South West Ambulance Service of their installation.
Parish councillor Steve Graham explained that the defibrillator at Colebrooke Parish Hall was donated by local farmers. A plaque has gone up on the wall by it saying the machine was donated by local farmers in 2021.
The other, at the New Inn, Coleford, was funded by a combination of the landlord Mark Smeed holding quiz nights, local donations and a Locality fund grant, facilitated by Nick Way, Devon County Councillor until he retired this month.
Steve Graham said: “We owe a debt of thanks to our local farmers and the landlord of the New Inn for their generosity in the purchase and installation of these community enhancing devices.”
The parish council hopes neither will be needed but adds that if they are, the machine will, having reminded you to call for medical help, talk you through the process including how to prepare the patient, where to place the pads, will then assess for you whether the patient has a pulse, and hence, whether a shock is needed.
After applying the shock, the machine will then instruct you to carry out CPR and provides a metronome for the correct rhythm. After two minutes of CPR, it will tell you to pause, will assess again the patient’s pulse, and if necessary will tell you to carry on CPR.
Steve Smith thanks Nick for his support for the defibrillator in this area, the parish council trying to make sure everyone has access to one.
He also said the parish council was grateful to electrician Charlie Goodwin for kindly installing both units free-of-charge. He added that both are Heartsine pad 350p models and very easy to use.
The New Inn has been serving takeaway meals at weekends and opened for customers inside and outside on May 19, following guidelines and social distancing. Mark is looking forward to June when, hopefully, customers will be able to be served indoors at the bar.
Great Western Morris was there on Thursday, May 20 practising in the car park at 7.30pm and Pennymoor Singaround will be back there every last Tuesday evening in the month as from May 25 at 8pm.
Sue Read