Defibs4Bristol, a strictly not-for-profit organisation has added another public access defibrillator at the Eastfield Inn, Henleaze Road.
So far, we have installed 58 in Bristol including a number of local ones :
Southmead Fire station
The Beehive
The Gloucester Old Spot
The RAFA club
The White Lion (Westbury Village)
The Methodist church hall (Westbury Hill)
The Black Swan, Stoke Lane
The Treble Chance (Greystoke Ave)
Bristol Discount carpets (Charlton Road)
The Bradgate doctor’s surgery (on the Old Crow roundabout)
Southmead Health centre (Ullswater Road)
L’Affinage Du Fromage (North View)
Bristol Chiropractic (Kellaway Ave)
The Cambridge Arms (Coldharbour Road)
The Shakespeare (Redland)
The Black Swan (Stoke Lane)
The Crafty Cow (Wessex Ave)
The Lazy Dog (Ashley Down Road)
The Prince of Wales ( bottom of Gloucester Road)
We have also installed in Cotham :
Haig Harrison on Cotham Hill (previously there wasn’t one in this really busy area)
St Matthew’s Church (Cotham)
Kingsdown Vaults
The office, Kings House, High Kingsdown
We also have installations in Clifton on the Royal Oak and The East Village cafe’ (Boyces Ave).
We are still working hard to get an installation on Redland station which has complicated technical and property ownership issues. This has been ongoing for two years. We have already raised some funds towards this now held in awaiting resolution.
We are hoping to install another near the junction of Linden Road and Coldharbour Road. This one and the Eastfield Inn will have been as a a result of a generous local donor who doesn’t wish to be named.
Many of the above have been installed after numerous Justgiving pages and hundreds of hours of leafleting. Some as the result of donations (e.g. Walkers & Talkers). Some were self-funded after we spoke to the sites.
We teach CPR / defib to groups as requested and ongoingly monitor the monthly checking of our 58 installations and half a dozen others where the novelty has worn off for the guardians and the mundane but important checking has become too much of a chore.
Any donations go towards on costs replenishment (pads and batteries which have a shelf life which we also monitor) and purchases of new AEDs.
We are strictly not-for-profit and don’t claim any expenses so, any donations are used for the purposes above.
Eighty per cent of cardiac arrests happen at home so locally accessible defibrillators are of the upmost importance. For every minute without help life expectancy drops by 10%.
As a former community first responder of nine years I attended cardiac arrests and understand the importance of timely intervention. Not enough people understand CPR and people are frightened of AEDS (automatic external defibrillators). You cannot make a mistake with these machines as they will only allow/ give a shock, if appropriate. Training sessions build confidence and speed timely intervention.
As a former Royal Marines’ Reservist of 41 years, retiring in 2012 when I was 60, I understand the importance of persistence and flexibility to achieve the aim.
Simon Brookes, Defibs4Bristol.com