Lifesavers: Bishop's Stortford wealth and law firms show they're all heart
Three new defibrillators are about to be installed in Bishop's Stortford town centre.
Where to find a defibrillator in Bishop's Stortford
Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre, Rye Street, CM23 2HH
The Charis Centre, 31b Water Lane, CM23 2JZ
Bupa Dental Care, 1 Barrett Lane, CM23 2JT
Nockolds Solicitors, 6 Market Square, CM23 3UZ
Dotmatics, The Old Monastery, Windhill, CM23 2ND
Windhill 21, Windhill, CM23 2NE
St Michael’s C of E (VA) Primary School, Apton Road, CM23 3SN
Marks & Spencer, 13 - 15 South Street, CM23 3YJ
Bishop’s Stortford Methodist Church, 34b South Street, CM23 3AZ
The Dentist, 66 South Street, CM23 3AZ
Damira Dental Studios, 75 South Street, CM23 3AL
South Street Surgery, 83 South Street, CM23 3AP
Havers Community Centre, 1 Knights Row, CM23 3GR
Rhodes Arts Complex, 1-3 South Road, CM23 3JG
Paragon Fitness Studio, Southmill Road, CM23 3DY
Nuffield Health Fitness & Wellbeing Gym, 2 Anchor Street, CM23 3BP
Price Bailey, 1 Dane Street, CM23 3BT
Allinson Flour Mill, 10 Dane Street, CM23 3BX
Riverside Dental, 22 The Causeway, CM23 2EJ
Markwell Pavilion, Castle Gardens, CM23 2EL
Hanbury Wealth, Hockerill Street, CM23 2DW
Bishop’s Stortford Orthodontic Practice, 30 Stansted Road, CM23 2DX
Hockerill Dental, Hockerill Court, London Road, CM23 5SB
Hockerill Anglo-European College, Dunmow Road, CM23 5HX
The Bishop’s Stortford Golf Club, Dunmow Road, CM23 5HP
Birchwood High School, Parsonage Lane, CM23 5BD
Herts and Essex High School, Warwick Road, CM23 5NJ
Bishop’s Stortford Bowling Club, Bowling Lane, CM23 5FE
Bishop’s Stortford Baptist Church, Twyford Road, CM23 3LJ
Bishop’s Stortford Canoe Club, Stylemans Lane, CM22 7QJ
The Bishop’s Stortford High School, London Road, CM23 3LU
Thorley Hill Primary School, Park Lane, CM23 3NH
Richard Whittington Primary School, Thornbera Gardens, CM23 3NP
Thorley Scout Hut, Church Lane, CM23 4AD
St Michael’s Mead Community Centre, Turners Crescent, CM23 4FZ
Tesco, Lancaster Way, Bishop’s Park, CM23 4DD
Bishop’s Park Community Centre Trust, Lancaster Way, CM23 4DA
Bishop’s Stortford Rugby Football Club, Silver Leys, CM23 2QE
Bishop’s Stortford Swifts FC, Silver Leys, CM23 2QE
Bishop’s Stortford Cricket Club, Cricketfield Lane, CM23 2TD
Northgate Primary School, Cricketfield Lane, CM23 2RL
Bishop’s Stortford College, 10 Maze Green Road, CM23 2PQ
If you know of any more defibs in Stortford, email cat.barkley@stortfordindie.co.uk
One will be set up in the Jackson Square shopping centre, one at the Tourist Information Centre in Market Square and one in the phone box in Potter Street at the top of the steps to Devoils Lane.
People who live, work and shop in the town centre can learn how to operate the life-saving pieces of equipment and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during two free training sessions delivered by health and safety expert Brian Goodwin, today (Aug 2) and Tuesday, August 28.
Brian launched his ‘Save a Life’ campaign last November. Over the past nine months, the former Army medic has been finding out where all the town centre defibrillators are located.
“I started the Save a Life campaign after I heard a man died in the car park near Waitrose,” Brian said. “I asked myself ‘Why didn’t someone grab the nearest defibrillator, which was only a couple of hundred metres away in the dentist surgery?’”
After the man’s death in August last year, Brian decided that something needed to be done. He approached the Independent for help to publicise his campaign, and the series of articles was picked up by financial advisers Hanbury Wealth, which offered to buy a defibrillator to be installed in Jackson Square.
From their lead, the Nockolds law team followed suit and bought a defibrillator for the Tourist Information Centre.
Julie North, Hanbury Wealth’s business development and marketing manager, explained: “When Brian gave a demonstration to the Hanbury Wealth team, he mentioned the lack of defibs in our actual shopping centre, which led Julia [Nicholas], the finance and facilities manager, to want to change this.
“Julia then spoke to Nockolds, with whom they have a close working relationship, and they also wanted to support this project.”
The phone box defibrillator is being brought to fruition by Bishop’s Stortford Town Council. It adopted the phone box from BT and the Herts and Essex Community Charity has provided the defibrillator.
The defib is ready to be installed, but the kiosk has been vandalised, and repair works, estimated to cost around £1,000, will need to be carried out first.
“I’m dismayed at the state it’s now in,” said Cllr Colin Woodward. “But I can point out that it’s under a CCTV camera so we’ll be doing an investigation.”
A defibrillator gives a high-energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest – a condition that strikes around 140,000 times a year in the UK.
When a person suffers cardiac arrest, every minute that they do not receive CPR and defibrillation reduces their survival rate by up to 10%. Without any immediate treatment, 90-95% of cardiac arrests are fatal. However, if a defibrillator is used within three to five minutes of arrest, survival rates rise to 74% on average.
Brian’s CPR and defib training session today will take place at Bishop’s Stortford Methodist Church between 9am and 5pm. The session on Tuesday, August 28 will take place at Jackson Square in the morning and the Tourist Information Centre in the afternoon.
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Cat Barkley