PCC funding boost sees defibrillators installed across Herts
Defibrillators have been installed at many police stations in Herts. - Credit: Herts police
Defibrillators have been installed at many of Hertfordshire's police stations - thanks to a £72,000 funding boost from the police and crime commissioner.
Buntingford, Harpenden, Hitchin, Letchworth, Royston, South Mimms, St Albans, Welwyn Garden City police stations have had the life-saving devices installed at their entrances, as has the force's Stanborough headquarters.
Other stations further afield that benefitted from having new devices installed were Bishop’s Stortford, Borehamwood, Cheshunt, Hemel Hempstead, South Oxhey, Tring, Turnford, Rickmansworth and Watford.
The automated external defibrillators allow members of the public, as well as officers and staff, to provide potentially life-saving care in emergencies with support of call handlers from the ambulance service.
Herts Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd said: “This is a vital resource for the public and police officers to enable them to give the best immediate chance of survival for victims of cardiac arrest.
“I would ask people to take note of the location of these defibrillators next time they pass their local police station as they never know when they may need to use them.”
Sudden cardiac arrest occurs 140,000 times a year in the UK, making it one of the UK’s biggest killers. The potential for saving a life is dependent upon time; the faster medical intervention can be delivered, the better the chances of survival. Clinical studies suggest cardiac arrest casualties have less than 5 minutes from the event to save the life, this decreasing by up to 23 per cent per minute thereafter.
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Statistics show that early bystander cardio pulmonary resuscitation - or CPR - and defibrillation can increase the survival chances of a person who has suffered a sudden cardiac arrest by as much as 50 per cent.
All machines are sited within a weather-proof and anti-theft storage cabinet with keypad code entry system.
The access code for the defibrillator will be disclosed by a call handler, who will support the caller with life-saving instructions while additional help is dispatched to the location.
