Offa Community Council’s three new defibrillators installed

Offa Community Council have said ‘thank you’ to Stewart Rawson Electrical for community work installing a set of new defibrillators.

The Community Council recently purchased the three defibrillators for various locations within the local community.

The three defibrillators and locked cabinets have been installed by Stewart Rawson Electrical Contractors of Wrexham. The Clerk to Offa Community Council Mrs Karen Benfield paid tribute to Stewart and thanked him on behalf of the Community Council for the work installing the units which he has carried out free of charge at each location for the benefit of the local community.

She also thanked the Managers of the three buildings where the defibrillators have been located for allowing the work to go ahead and for the connection to their power supply for the heated cabinets. They are Mr Ian Savage at the Plas y Bryn Medical Centre on Chapel Street, Mr Paul Maddocks the Manager of the Maesgwyn Hall on Mold Road and Ms Annette Bryden the Manager at the Hightown Resource Centre on Brynycabanau Road.

The defibrillators are secured in the cabinets located on the outside wall of each of the 3 buildings near the entrance door. Access to the defibrillator is gained by phoning the emergency tel no to the ambulance service on the outside of each cabinet – a code is then quickly given by the ambulance operator to open the cabinet accessing the defibrillator and they will also stay on the line to give you full instructions on its use whilst waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

When someone has a cardiac arrest their chances of survival diminish with every minute that passes and after 7 minutes without medical attention their chances of survival are minimal. This means that in areas where an ambulance or paramedic take longer than this to arrive an outdoor defibrillator should be installed.

Anyone wanting to access training on the use of defibrillators is asked to contact Mrs Karen Benfield on 01978 291562 or by email: [email protected].