A café in Shrewsbury took delivery of a life-saving defibrillator recently thanks to the generosity of Telford Community First Responders.
Following the tragic death of a member of public who suffered a cardiac arrest at the café earlier this year, the owner wanted something positive to come from the incident and began enquiring about purchasing a defibrillator. After mentioning to a friend of her idea, stop. Coffee Shop owner Nicola Dalton was introduced to Telford First Responders Coordinator and Chair, Nick Freeman, who was more than happy to help.
Nick said: “As it happens, we had one spare automated external defibrillator (AED) after obtaining a lottery grant last year for our Community First Responder (CFR) scheme to replace our own AEDs, so I offered to gift it to this good cause.
“Whilst slightly out of our patch, we work closely with local Shrewsbury First Responders and our scheme was only too happy to help support the community to further improve cardiac arrest survival.”
The defibrillator was officially handed over to Nicola at the café on Sunday 17th March. Nicola said: “It was great to be able to give the good news of obtaining an AED to the staff who witnessed the incident which was nice. It’s a positive thing to have come out of a very sad situation and whilst I hope that this defibrillator is never used, it’s reassuring to know that it’s there should an emergency arise again.”
The AED will be on hand to help if someone suffers a cardiac arrest in the local area. Initially it will be accessible only during the café’s opening times, but Nicola is hoping to install a secure cabinet, with help from Shrewsbury Rotary Club, on the outside of her café to house the device to ensure it is publicly accessible 24/7 when you dial 999.
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