West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) teamed up with the OurJay Foundation to Install OurJay’s 155th AED (defibrillator) outside of Paddox Cycles shop, in Rugby. AEDs are pieces of equipment used to restart the heart, in a cardiac arrest incident.
WMAS’s Community Response Manager, Cliff Medlicott attended the event to promote the importance of registering AEDs on The Circuit, as part of our week-long ‘Let Us See Your AED’ campaign. Whilst he was there, he also demonstrated to shop owner Alex Richardson, just how easy it is to use the life-saving piece of equipment. At the event Cliff 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.”
OurJay Foundation was set up in memory of Jamie Rees an 18-year-old who sadly passed away after a cardiac arrest in the early hours of New Years Day 2022 and while Jamie’s friends knew a defibrillator was close by in a school, they were unable to access it, given the time of day it happened.
Over the last two and a half years, the OurJay Foundation has been working hard to not only provide AEDs to communities nationwide, but also to spread the message of 24/7 accessible AEDs that are registered on the British Heart Foundation’s The Circuit. Yesterday 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.
Alex, the owner of Paddox Cycles shared his reasons for installing an AED outside of his shop, he 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.”