Life-saving equipment is to be placed in rural communities across the North East thanks to Northumbrian Water and an NHS Trust.
After the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust upgraded its stock of defibrillators, which can be used to help people in cardiac arrest, Northumbrian Water stepped in to find new homes for 93 of the devices the Trust has replaced.
The units will be placed at the water company’s sites in remote areas, as well as in Northumbrian Water vehicles that are used by teams in such rural locations.
Where the locations allow, the defibrillators, which provide audio instruction to users, will be made accessible to the community.
Brett Stinton, Head of Health, Safety and Environment, said: “This fantastic donation from County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust not only offers support to our teams working in remote locations across the North East, but to those communities we serve, where help isn’t always quickly at hand, and we are very happy to be helping to make these life-saving defibrillators more accessible.
“We hope these devices never need to be used, but having them close at hand can provide peace of mind to people.”
With 93 defibrillators available, Northumbrian Water also has scope to donate some of the devices to local community groups, so for any community groups, especially rural ones, interested in applying for a defib please email communities@nwl.co.uk advising of your interest.
Liz Delamar, Sister in the Trust’s Cardiac Arrest Prevention Team, said: “We are grateful to Northumbrian Water for taking these defibrillators out into the community and supporting our work in helping to protect and support people when they suffer cardiac arrest. Swift access to help can be key to someone’s chances when they go into arrest, so having more defibrillators in remote communities is really valuable.”