This in from the Isle of Wight NHS Trust. Ed
Acts of vandalism have left the Pan Community of Newport without a Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) following an incident Wednesday evening.
The Public Access Defibrillator was found in pieces and covered in mud. The Isle of NHS Ambulance service is working with the Pan Community centre to help fund its replacement and a lock for the outside wall box that houses it.
Chris Smith, Head of the Ambulance Service said,
“This is most disappointing considering we offer these out for the benefit of the community.”
Louise Walker, Head of the Ambulance Training & Community Response Services (ATCoRS) added
“I’m appalled that anyone would do such a thing to a life saving device, I can only think that the individual(s) that carried out the vandalism had no idea just how important the defibrillator is to the local community.”
Be extra vigilant
Louise Walker continued
“Please can I ask all our Public Access Defibrillator sites to be extra vigilant and help us to ensure that the hundreds of devices we have on the Island are kept safe and ready for use.”
In the event of an out of hospital cardiac arrest it is essential a defibrillator is applied to the casualty within the first three minutes as this will help increase their chance of survival from less than 7% to as much as 74%.
