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Stogumber Defibrillator

Right hand side of church porch Stogumber’s defibrillator is located in St Mary's Church Stogumber in the porch (facing the shop).

It is on the right hand side behind the exterior gate to the porch. The gates are never locked so the device is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Defibrillator in cabinet The device is enclosed in an unlocked cabinet to protect the pads from frost. It has a supply of mains electricity to keep it frost free. To retrieve it, just push the big red button on the cabinet and the defibrillator will descend on a shelf, remove it for use and take it out of its orange fabric cover.
Defibrillator with shelf dropped

defibrillator in its case

defibrillator out of its case

press the white button for voice instructions
The defibrillator will talk to you after you have opened the lid. Remove the pads and place on the skin of the patient as instructed by the voice messages.
pad packet shows position of pads on patient

There is no danger in harming anyone with it by shocking them unnecessarily. It will only deliver a shock when needed. It will tell you when it is going to deliver a shock to defibrillate a ‘fibrillating’ heart. The defibrillator cannot revive a heart where there is no ‘fibrillation’. This condition is known as ‘flat lining’.

Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) must be used to attempt to restore heart activity. CPR attempts to get oxygen to the brain and heart and lungs by regular ‘pumping’ of the breast. For adults this is done by using the knuckle of clasped hands on the patient’s sternum.

CPR needs to be much less forceful on small bodies like babies and children. There are special instructions for CPR when used on babies and children. Babies are defined as younger than 12 months old. Children are defined as older than 12 months but younger than 8 years, for the purposes of CPR.

The device is on a 4 year lease from the South West Ambulance Service Trust (SWAST) which started in 2015.

Funds (£2000) were raised by parishioners to lease this from SWAST. The contract with SWAST includes:-

  • Provision of the Defibrillator for 4 years
  • Maintenance of the Defibrillator (new pads every 12 months)
  • Replacement should it get damaged or stolen.
  • Annual training in CPR and use of the device, this training is normally held in the Village Hall in autumn.
  • A designated parishioner (currently Joe Hull) checks the device every month and makes a return to SWAST’s web site.

As a parishioner you are strongly advised to attend the annual training by SWAST. The CPR training coupled with the use of the defibrillator greatly increases the chances of survival from a heart attack. You have the potential to save someone’s life. That person may be a loved one or a neighbour or a visitor to the Village. Look out for the training dates which are advertised in Stogumber Standard as well as on the Village website’s diary.