Community defibrillators are being rolled out across more Newcastle neighbourhoods including the Kenton area as part of the Council’s ‘Heart Start’ city programme.
Kenton Councillor Ged Bell said: ‘
“With our personal health being brought into sharp focus in the last two years the council has renewed its commitment to becoming a ‘Heart Start City’. 24-hour defibrillators for public use have been installed in several locations in the West and North of the city. They are straightforward to use. Benefits to the community are well known and we’re increasing the number available across Kenton.”
Installing three more community defibrillators gives residents better access to what is considered by the NE Ambulance Service as ”life-saving equipment”. The new locations are the Church of the Ascension on Creighton Ave, Montagu and the Duke of Wellington Pub on Kenton Lane. In addition the Community Health Partnership are installing a third one at the Kenton Neighbourhood Centre.
Public defibrillators are already in place in Kenton Park Sports Centre and Shandon Way GP surgery.
In the North East, only 8% of patients who had resuscitation tried on them survived to be discharged from hospital. A victim’s chance of survival falls by 10% with every minute that defibrillation is delayed. When the heart stops beating, oxygen is not bring transported to the brain and other vital organs. Within five minutes, brain damage starts to occur without intervention.
With community defibrillators, the machine is available to residents 24 hours a day, either because it’s in a building that is permanently open, or has been placed in a special cabinet on the outside of a building. These machines have been registered with NE Ambulance service. In a life-threatening emergency, the caller can be told where the nearest defibrillator is and asked if someone can retrieve it.
The NEAS have an interactive map on their website where residents can check locations across the city, should people need to use one.
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