Residents in the area around Musters Road and in the new Wilbur Chase development now have much easier access to a piece of potentially life-saving equipment – thanks to an initiative by Ruddington Baptist Church.
The church has just unveiled a new defibrillator for public use at the southern end of our village – conveniently located on the wall at the front of its base ‘The Hub’ at 62, Musters Road. Baptist Minister Sam Hackett, other church members and invited guests attended a ‘ribbon cutting’ ceremony on Tuesday 17th May by local resident Peter Rose (pictured), who declared the new device officially ‘in service’.
Church Treasurer, Mark Bairstow, explains: “Ruddington Baptist Church were aware that a large part of the village did not have a defibrillator available within the recommended distance and that the additional houses at Wilbur Chase would only increase the potential need. Having a property on Musters Road meant we could site one on our building so we contacted a number of groups to see whether there was an appetite to jointly fund it.”
After coming up with the idea just before Christmas, then managing to raise the £2,000 required very quickly, the unit is now installed and ready to use. Full instructions on how to operate it in an emergency can be found with the new defibrillator.
Mark adds: “We are very grateful for the generosity of Notts County Council, Rushcliffe Borough Council, Ruddington Parish Council, Girlings & Co Accountants and Rushcliffe Rotary Club who promptly stepped forward to jointly fund the initiative.”
To coincide with the launch of this latest Ruddington defibrillator, residents Barbara Breakwell and James Norton have collaborated to produce a handy, up-to-date map (below) which shows the location of all seven 24/7 accessible defibrillators around our ever-expanding village.
A brief guide to using a defibrillator:
- If you come across someone who isn’t breathing call 999.
- They will advise you where the nearest defibrillator is and give you a code to open the cabinet it is in.
- A defibrillator gives clear spoken instructions how to use it. If a shock isn’t needed, it will tell you.
Graham Wright via RUDDINGTON.com