Having recently purchased three defibrillators for the town centre, to add to those already available, Wilmslow Town Council is now focussing on getting as many defibrillators as possible available around the clock.
Town Clerk Matthew Jackson commented "We're very mindful of the fact that at this stage we still haven't got very many that are available 24 hours a day."
The Town Council has agreed to fund the purchase of three external cabinets subject to the defibrillators being made available to the general public 24 hours a day.
Cllr Phil Enstone commented "I strongly support this because at the end of the day this is to do with a life and it's to do with health and safety. It's the biggest thing in lots of ways that we could do to support the town, the people that comes to visit us and the individuals that unfortunately might need one of these."
Wilmslow Town Council agreed to allocate £1590 for the purchase of three external defibrillator boxes and up to £200 for the installation of them. They approved a budget in October 2013 to fund the purchase of up to 10 defibrillators at a cost of £6,500.
Additionally they have spoken to local businesses to try and encourage them to purchase one of these life-saving devices for their premises and made enquiries about having one available at Wilmslow Station.
When the defibrillators are installed notices will be placed to alert people to their location and when people call 999 after someone has had a heart attack the ambulance service will tell the caller the location of the nearest defibrillator and the code to open the box.
Comments
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There's also one at Pownall School donated by WFA.
I'm told that the high school has three but none available to the public and that every school in Wilmslow has one, again locked up inside the school somewhere. The should be available to the public as it is at St Anne's Fulshaw.
If WTC were able to fund 6-8 defibrillators and external boxes (total cost ~£1600 each), where would the public suggest they are located around Wilmslow for max population coverage? External boxes require a mains power supply to charge the defibrillator battery.
Would any business be prepared to sponsor additional ext boxes and/or provide a suitable location?
NWAS will provide location & code of nearest notified ext box, when required.