Thursday 4th December 2014 – 3.30pm – John Hawker.
(Year 7 Student Sebastian Priest provides CPR with fellow pupils.)
A college in Warwickshire are the proud owners of a smart piece of kit which will help to save the lives of students, teachers and locals.
The college in Welsh Road West, Southam took delivery of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED); a device which can help to restart someone’s heart when they’re suffering a cardiac arrest.
The £2000 cost of the machine was covered by local Southam CFR funds and also Arrhythmia Alliance, a local heart charity based in Stratford upon Avon. Local West Midlands Ambulance Service Community Paramedics are working alongside College staff and pupils to provide ongoing training in emergency care.
Keith Bromwich, WMAS Emergency Care Practitioner in Southam, said: “We are very proud to be involved in projects where life-saving AEDs are placed to serve the community.
“Having a defibrillator in a college could make the difference between life or death for pupils, teachers and even someone in their local community. It is situated on the wall on the front of the college and should someone suffer a cardiac arrest nearby, the WMAS Emergency Control Centre staff can give people the code to the box to access the defibrillator.”
Deputy Head of Southam College, Roger Eadon, said: “We are so grateful to the Arrhythmia Alliance and to Keith Bromwich for making it possible for us to have this wonderful device on site. With the continued success and growing popularity of Southam College, the number of students and staff at the school has grown significantly. The defibrillator may well save the life of one of our school community. It has been carefully positioned on an outside wall at the front of the school, so that it is also available for the local community at any time. I am so proud that our fantastic students were involved in producing a persuasive video stating the need for an AED at Southam College. We will continue to work with Keith Bromwich to ensure students, staff and the local community are trained in the effective use of the defibrillator and in other life saving first aid techniques.”
L to R: Senior Prefect, Jack Sullivan, Elli Clark, Will Eadon and Head Girl Emily Knight-Robinson.