Does your neighbourhood need its own defibrillator?

Residents of Rusthall Avenue, Tania and Ed, set up a fundraising campaign for a defibrillator for their street

The residents of Rusthall and St Albans Avenue believe an AED will save lives and raised over £2,000 in nine hours for a machine on their doorstep

Led by Dr Edward Seaton and his neighbour Tania Lewis, the campaign for a street defibrillator (AED) for Eridge Road was launched after Ed had seen a couple of not-so-old colleagues with cardio issues.

“You get to a certain age and you begin to think,” he says. “If your heart stops, the most important thing is to get defibrillated quickly or, whilst waiting for the machine to shock, have CPR to keep blood and oxygen flowing to the brain and vital organs.”

“For every minute that passes, the chance of survival falls by up to ten per cent.”

Doctor Ed Seaton with the Eridge Road defibrillator, supplied by London Hearts

Too many people die are dying

Tania, who is a professional fundraiser, shared his concerns:

“Believe me, if you see someone in peril, you’ll want to step up and help,” she says. “A defibrillator on our own doorstep could be the difference between life and death for any one of us.”

Rusthall Avenue is a street with a community-minded WhatsApp group who responded to the call to fund the lifesaving machine

Cardiac arrests happen at home

In the UK, there are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every year and around eight in ten of them happen at home. Sadly, fewer than one in ten people survive. Used within the first few minutes, a defibrillator can raise the chances of survival dramatically.

In Chiswick High Road, the defibrillator outside O2 is available 24 hours, but many in the public realm are not

Defibrillators are in short supply in city streets

“It occurred to us that we ought to know where the nearest defibrillator is,” explains Ed. “So we used data from The Circuit, the national defibrillator network, to find out where the AEDs actually are.”

To their dismay, not all machines in the W4 area are available around the clock and the Rusthall residents knew that the machine outside the O2 shop in Chiswick High Road was too far to reach and bring back in those vital first minutes.

After a little research, they got in contact with London Hearts, a charity that helps with the provision of community defibrillators and were lucky that another neighbour – also a doctor – offered the wall of her property to mount the device.

Setting up a GoFundMe page is easy and often used for medical care or equipment

Communities can fundraise for their own lifesaving machine

Asking other neighbours to support their efforts turned out to be easier than expected.

“We have a fantastic Rusthall Avenue WhatsApp group, so that’s how we were able to organize the fund-raising and get the money,” says Tania.

“We don’t have all the residents, but at least 180 people.

“The response was incredible – over £2,000!  I work for a charity, and it is difficult to raise that much money in nine hours. We’ve even got enough money to cover the running costs for ten years.

“You don’t have to be a professional fundraiser to do it,” she says. “You just set up a GoFundMe page.”

A spokesperson for GoFundMe said: “Raising money for medical care and equipment is one of the most common reasons people turn to GoFundMe, and funding a defibrillator that could save a life is a powerful example. The Rusthall Avenue neighbours should be proud of what they’ve raised, helping give their street that protection.”

A community defibrillator relies on finding a willing host with an accessible wall

Installation and maintenance

“The key thing is finding someone to host it on a wall and pay for the electricity each month as the cabinet has to be kept heated,” explains Ed. “Our fundraising covered this cost, and we’ll give our host enough money for the next ten years.”

“We were also very grateful to Ben Brooks from BB Electricals who carried out the installation free of charge,” adds Tania.

Now it’s installed – on a road that links Rusthall and St Albans Avenues –  the device was registered on The Circuit, which provides the NHS ambulance services with up-to-date information on registered AEDs, allowing 999 call handlers to direct anyone nearby straight to it in an emergency.

The machine is mounted on the side wall of a house in a spot that’s easy to reach from surrounding streets without affecting anyone’s property frontage.

The Eridge Road defibrillator is now available 24 hours a day and can be unlocked using a code supplied by a 999 operator. You don’t need to be trained to use the machine because it talks you through every step out loud.