NEARLY 40 more people are CPR and defibrillator trained having benefitted from free workshops.

Richard Penny's free training was borne out of concern as statistics suggest more than a fifth (22 per cent) of people would be too afraid to use a defibrillator, also known as an AED, in an emergency, he explained.

Richard founded Barclay Penny Training in 2017.

He taught the group in Coggeshall life-saving skills and was able to address common concerns people have about using a defibrillator like using one incorrectly could make the patient worse.

Gazette:

A few people get hands-on with a defibrillator

He said: "Approximately 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen every year in the UK and without treatment, 90 to 95 per cent of these will die.

"If a defibrillator and effective CPR is used within the first three to five minutes, the patients risk of survival increases from a shocking six per cent to 74 per cent.

"By running these workshops, we're able to show residents how to use their community defibrillator using a training programme that simulates an emergency situation.

"It also gives them the opportunity to handle the defibrillator themselves and learn effective CPR."

Gazette:

The Coggeshall group after a successful day 

Ambulance operators will identify the nearest available defibrillator  and give you access details during a 999 call should the patient needs it, but there is no legal responsibility for defibrillator owners to have their device listed with the ambulance service.

This is a list from the East of England Ambulance Service, available to download as a spreadsheet.

Heartsafe, the UK’s leading public access defibrillator website, has just seven locations listed in Colchester.

These are:

  • Nordson Dage, Unit 4, Phoenix Square, Severalls Industrial Estate
  • Rowhedge Football Club, Rectory Road
  • Sainsbury's customer service desk, 1 Western Approach, Stanway
  • St Michael's Primary School and Nursery, Camulodunum Way
  • Lumina Display Systems, Unit 5, Griggs Business Centre, West Street, Coggeshall 
  • The Environment Agency reception, Threshelfords Business Park, Inworth Road, Feering
  • Inntel House, Threshelfords Business Park, Inworth Road, Feering

But Colchester Community First Responders have installed close to 50 in the past year, one of its members explained.

Access their AED location map here

To contact Richard about organising a workshop, email richard@barclaypennytraining.co.uk.