Eleanor, a member of Gifford Community Council and a retired medic, volunteered to become the Guardian of their community’s defibrillator.
As part of her new role, she organised resuscitation training with the Scottish Ambulance Service and registered their community defibrillator on The Circuit after it was recommended in the session.
The Gifford Community Council’s defibrillator has already helped to save a life. As the story spread further registrations across the area followed.
“Our defibrillator helped to save the life of a passing cyclist”
Eleanor explains, “My husband, a retired GP and I were passing the scene and stopped to help. The cyclist was receiving CPR with the village defibrillator ready to use. He required 5 shocks. He also needed continued chest compressions when the defibrillator said not to shock. In my opinion this intervention saved his life; or if there had been no defib the outcome could have been very different.
“Our village café is a haven for cyclists, and we were told by his friends that the cyclist was well enough to be discharged within the week! Because this was a rare event (happily) practically everyone heard about it, and it has encouraged other defibrillator Guardians to register theirs on The Circuit across the community too, at the local primary school, golf clubs, and the bowling club.”
The importance of registering defibrillators on The Circuit
Eleanor shared the importance of registering the defibrillator, regularly checking it and updating The Circuit, to ensure it has the best chance of saving a life.
“It’s very important that the 999 service can direct a person phoning them about a collapsed person to the nearest defibrillator. Clearly it must be in good working order, and the prompts from The Circuit to check it are very useful.’’
Following this lifesaving event, the council decided to increase public awareness with a poster campaign which the Provost (Scottish Mayor) is keen to extend across East Lothian.
