Defibrillators

North Marston has three conveniently located defibrillators. These are located:

• At the rear of the Village Hall, outside next to the car park
• At the Wesley Centre
• On the end wall of the sports pavillion at the sports field

All Defibrillators are in locked cabinets and can’t be accessed unless you call 999 (or 112 from a mobile). The Emergency Services operator will give you the code to open the cabinet, only if they consider it appropriate.

The operator will give you a code, which you can use to unlock the cabinet and then use the handle to open the door. Inside is the defibrillator and pads.

Each defibrillator is designed to be very simple to use, so prior training is NOT necessary. The Emergency Services operator will also guide you as required. However, we advise residents and visitors to have a general understanding of the process, as follows:

• In an emergency you ideally need two people; one to give chest compressions – compress the chest twice a second to about 1/3 of the chest depth of the patient. DO NOT STOP UNTIL PARAMEDICS TELL YOU TO. The other person will fetch the defibrillator.
• The unit delivers an electrical shock so make sure there is no water around (puddles etc.).
• Turn on the unit by pressing the green button, and follow its spoken instructions.
• Apply the pads as directed and the unit will decide if the casualty needs a shock or not, so you can’t deliver it incorrectly.
• If the casualty’s heart is in fibrillation a shock will be administered – make sure nobody is touching the casualty during the shock!
• If the patients heart is not in fibrillation, no shock will be administered – you should continue chest compressions until the paramedics arrive and tell you to stop.