As our village population continues to grow, so does the need for potentially life-saving yellow and green boxes in close proximity which are available to our community 24 hours a day.
In the past few years, as well as inside various Ruddington premises and on standby for public events, several publicly accessible automated external defibrillators (AEDs) have been installed at locations around our village. Now there’s another one – on the wall of the Old Chapel belonging to The Framework Knitters’ Museum down Chapel Street.
It’s just been unveiled by electrician David Selby (who installed it) and the museum’s volunteer manager Sophie Lovette (pictured together above) and brings the total number of AEDs available 24/7 in Ruddington to eight. We’ve now added it to an updated location map below, which was originally drawn up Barbara Breakwell and James Norton.
In the case of a cardiac emergency, where someone’s heart stops beating, or begins beating erratically, any of these devices can be used by people at the scene with no previous training. That’s possible because the machine produces pre-recorded voice instructions which guide the user on how to automatically check the patient’s condition and apply the correct electric shocks, if required. The critical time period to use it is within six minutes of the emergency – to hopefully save a life.
After the Framework Knitters’ Museum decided to install this latest defibrillator, their creative and commercial manager Sarah Godfrey (who also fundraised for a previous Ruddington defib as part of Wilbur The Cat‘s 10th birthday celebrations) came up with the idea of ‘The Woolly Hat Project’ to help raise the necessary funds.
Sarah says: “A huge thanks to D Selby Electrics who installed this equipment. We would like to thank all those who donated towards the woolly hat project including the support of St Peter’s School. We also thank the Rotary club and the local Council including the support of Cllr Jen Walker and Cllr Mike Gaunt. Also thanks to the Department of Health and SocialCare and St John’s Ambulance, who have provided the training on how to use it.”
Ruddington’s other 24/7 publicly accessible defibrillators can be found at Near & Far Removals on Brookside Road, National Car Finder on the corner of Ashworth Avenue and Rufford Road, Okarno (formerly Artex) on Pasture Lane, James Peacock School in Manor Park, St Peter’s Rooms on Church Street, Elms Park Pavilion along Loughborough Road and ‘The Hub’ on Musters Road.
A brief guide to finding and using these devices is:
- If you come across someone who isn’t breathing call 999.
- They will advise you where the nearest defibrillator is and give you a code to open the cabinet it is in.
- A defibrillator gives clear spoken instructions how to use it. If a shock isn’t needed, it will tell you.
