DEFIBRILLATOR

About

The Penyffordd and Penymynydd village defibrillator is located outside the back door of the War Memorial Institute in a big yellow box.  The box is unlocked but is alarmed and checked regularly, there is also a device attached to the box that sends a text message to a number of people if the door is opened.  The box is monitored via CCTV.

The Penyffordd and Penymynydd Parent and Toddler Group committee of 2015 - 2017 fundraised over £1600 to purchase the defibrillator for the whole of both Penyffordd and Penymynydd to use in the event of an emergency.  This might be in the event of someone going into cardiac arrest or having chest pains. It is worth noting that if someone is having chest pains, you can quickly go and get the defibrillator and have it by their side incase you need to use it to save them if they were to go into cardiac arrest.  Remember - every second counts!

Use of the defibrillator

You can attach the pads to the chest to monitor the heart.  The DEFIBRILLATOR WILL NOT SHOCK SOMEONE IF THEY DON'T NEED IT but will tell you if they need CPR or a shock.

Once someone is in cardiac arrest you have around 10 minutes to save them, after that it's too late.  Ambulances usually take over 10 minutes to arrive and for the paramedics to start working on the casualty.  

For every minute that passes after going into cardiac arrest the casualty is 10% less likely to survive. That means after 1 minutes they have a 90% chance of survival if they receive a shock where as after 8 minutes they only have a 20% chance of survival.

If you have taken the defibrillator to an emergency situation and don't use it, it doesn't matter and if you do, fantastic! Hopefully you will have saved a life.

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Demonstrations/Training/Queries

If you have any questions or want to help in any way please contact Caroline Thompson on penyffordddefib@gmail.com or the visit the defibrillator Facebook page to send a message directly: Penyffordd and Penymynydd Community Defibrillator action page.

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