We’d like to encourage everyone living and working in the village to familiarise themselves with the sites of the life-saving defibrillator machines and learn how to use them.
An estimated 60,000 people each year in the UK have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and, sadly, less than 10% of those people will survive. Yet, if a bystander is able to start CPR they could double a person’s chances of survival.
Hassocks has an impressive thirteen defib machines that we know about. Four of them are available 24/7 as they are fixed to the outside of the address. The other units would only be available when each location is open.
All of the machines are portable and contain full instructions. And when using it while on a call with 999, the operator will talk you through using it. However, local first aid trainer Katie Jardine is on a mission to help educate the people of Hassocks. During the free training session, organised in conjunction with Adastra Hall Hassocks Community Association, Katie will be sharing how to use a defibrillator. The short session will include: what is a defibrillator, how to use it, where are they located, and a recap on how to perform basic CPR.
Katie, from Andersson First Aid Training, who has run this free session in Cuckfield in the past, is very happy to share what she knows: “The aim is simply to help people to understand what would happen, if they were in a situation where a defib would be beneficial. In my experience members of the public are fearful of these devices - even though they are very easy to use.”
The last time Katie ran a public session like this elsewhere, it proved very popular, as lots of residents were keen to help themselves be useful - should they need to be. Although you don’t need to, you can register to attend by sending an email to: katie@anderssonfirstaidtraining.co.uk - or just turn up at 7pm on Friday 28th April, at Adastra Hall.