Our Defibrillator – Access to the cabinet
Many of you will know that we have a defibrillator attached to the side of the Village Hall.
Following investigation, it has emerged that there is a certain parameter within the SW Ambulance Service system that will mean the call handler cannot “see” the unit on their screens if you have called from more than 0.5km (as the crow flies) away from the unit. This is apparently a parameter used by all of the ambulance services across the country and they will not change it for our rural location (it’s considered that travelling any further than that will not be productive in a life threatened situation). We believe that in a rural location we are used to travelling that far if needs be.
Whilst this limit doesn’t present a problem if you are already AT the unit outside the Village Hall, if you have called 999 from your home – perhaps dispatching a friend or relative to get the unit whilst you continue care for the patient – this MAY be an issue that causes some delay.
This would always be a stressful time so the Parish Council have decided to publish the access code for the cabinet to parishioners. The code is C123X and you may wish to put that in your phone or perhaps on the Resilience Postcard which was issued a couple of years ago. (This card can be reprinted from the “Flooding and Community Resilience” section of the website).
I hope you never need it but ………
Steve Dixon, Parish Clerk, 20th January 2023