A LIFE-SAVING Rugby charity teamed up with West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) to install a defibrillator at a cycle shop in the town.
The OurJay Foundation installed the automated external defibrillator (AED) outside Paddox Cycles in collaboration with WMAS as part of the latter’s week-long ‘Let Us See Your AED’ campaign, which was promoting the importance of registering AEDs on The Circuit.
WMAS’s Community Response Manager Cliff Medlicott said: “The Circuit is linked to all ambulance control rooms nationally and the registration of AEDs on The Circuit is what makes them visible on our systems.
“The best care for cardiac arrest is basic life support and the use of an AED as quickly as possible. This is why it’s so vital that AEDs in the Community are accessible to the public.”
It was the 155th defibrillator installed across the region by the charity, which was founded by Naomi Rees-Issitt in 2022 in the name of her son Jamie Rees, who died suddenly at the age of 18 following a cardiac arrest in the early hours of New Years Day 2022.
While Jamie’s friends knew a defibrillator was close by at Ashlawn School, they were unable to access it given the time of day.
Since its foundation, the charity has been working to raise awareness of the importance of publicly accessible AEDs which are registered on the British Heart Foundation’s The Circuit.
Naomi said: “It really is vital that all public access AEDs are registered on The Circuit.
“This way, if someone was to need access to an AED, WMAS would have the details needed, such as location and access codes. Without this information, life-saving AEDs are not accessible to the public.
“I really would encourage anyone who looks after an AED to make sure it’s registered – it really is the key to making our communities safer.”
On the day the new AED was installed, Cliff Medlicott demonstrated to shop owner Alex Richardson how easy it is to use the life-saving equipment.
Alex said: “Anyone could need access to an AED at any point. Making sure it’s accessible even when the shop is closed is key for me.
“It’s all about giving that person in cardiac arrest the best chance of survival.”
