A community campaigner is calling for more life-saving cardiac defibrillators – machines that can restart someone’s heart – to be installed in Brighton and Hove.
Hanover resident and Green Party activist Jerome Cox-Strong, 29, is expected to make the case to councillors at a meeting at Hove Town Hall this afternoon (Thursday 18 December).
Mr Cox-Strong has submitted a public question to Brighton and Hove City Council and it is due to be answered at the meeting of the full council scheduled for today.
He question is: “Cardiac arrest statistics are terrifyingly clear. For every minute that passes without access to a defibrillator, someone’s chances of surviving decreases by 10 per cent.
“It’s because of this simple, life-saving maths that the nearest accessible defibrillator should never be more than 200 metres away.
“Yet the reality in our city is stark. My area, Hanover and Elm Grove, remains a defibrillator desert. For those in deprived areas like Pankhurst, the nearest defibrillator might be as much as 20 minutes away.
“This is inequality extending brutally, literally, into a matter of life and death.
“I’m campaigning locally to secure charitable funding for new defibrillators for Hanover and Elm Grove that could save lives.
“But this is a citywide emergency that will continue without citywide, statutory intervention.
“Will the council commit to undertaking a formal review of public defibrillator access across the city and to centrally funding new defibrillators in areas like mine?”
Mr Cox-Strong said: “It’s been something I’ve been keen to work on for some years after doing my first aid training and identifying the sheer lack of public defibrillators on accessible maps.”
Locally, A&E (accident and emergency) consultant Rob Galloway has been a vocal supporter of accessible community defibrillators with clear and easy-to-use instructions.
A typical community defibrillator and cabinet can cost just under £1,500, putting it within fundraising reach of many local groups.
It’s something we did in our area quite extensively, great thing with fundraising as well, is that several grantfunders will cover most of that cost specifically to get defibs out there.
Oh, and I’d take it a step onwards as well, and suggest if a group is thinking about getting a defib, also consider getting a bleed control kit at the same time! Jerome is championing a very important issue.
A friend of yours then?
Never met the guy. There’s just no good reason to not have one.
There is one at the Downs Crematorium!!
Downs Crematorium locks its Gates at Night I’ve noticed should it be needed after 6pm.
Woodvale-the main gates along Lewes Rd aren’t locked-when I’ve walked past at 9/10pm, as I’ve visited a Friend.
Proberly get Stolen or taken the wall in Pankhurst-Firle Rd Area.
Clearly a campaign to raise the profile of a perspective council candidate. There are many ways to campaign and fund defibrillators. Let’s have more life saving equipment but not another i360 loving disastrous local green councillor.
Compared to the current lot of Labour councillors who promised changed and have just deliver broken manifesto promises?
Let’s also not forget that the i360 was Labour’s vision for the city in the first place back in 2006 too. The Labour leader at that time said “It is going to transform the city. The i360 will be a familiar picture postcard image – recognisable throughout the world. It will generate huge amounts of cash and benefit the city’s economy all year round.” Roll on to 2024 and it was a Labour council who practically gave the i360 away to a private business (a great deal for the business, a dreadful one for residents left lumbered with the debt!)
Rather than be so cynical just accept that campaigns to raise the profile on the need for community defibrillators are a good thing. If there’s a need for more in his area, then great it’s being highlighted and hopefully it will result in more.
The very same thought crossed my mind! A winning proposition which no one can disagree with. We can all agree we want to save lives just as we can all agree that puppies are cute! Also he did not seem to grasp that installing defibrillators everywhere involved legal and other implications, so obviously he hadn’t looked into the matter very deeply.
Sorry, that is just nonsense, Tracy.
It’s a good idea in theory, but defibrillators need regular servicing and maintaining wherever they are installed so there is an ongoing cost implication, and if they are installed inside a building, the owner will need to take on this cost and responsibility and also make them accessible to others in the neighbourhood which is then a potential security risk, if for example a defibrillator is installed in an office or residential block where access is supposed to be for staff or residents only, meaning someone could potentially pretend there is a medical emergency outside in order to gain access. We have just been having this very debate where I work.
It is absolutely minimal. So I have three units installed in Brighton and I have my Lifepak. I’ve spent less than £10 over the last year in maintenance.