Life-saving defibrillator machines have been made available to the public along Poole Quay thanks to Soroptimist International
Poole and Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC).
PHC will fund and manage the on-going maintenance to ensure that the public defibrillators on Poole Quay will always be serviced and ready in case the general public need to use them.
One is located at the entrance of PHC’s award-winning Poole Quay Boat Haven and the other by the Lifeboat Station near the old Lifting Bridge.
Jim Stewart, chief executive at Poole Harbour Commissioners, said: “This is an excellent community initiative which we are really happy to support. The defibrillators are located on our land and we will maintain them, plus our team is defibrillator trained and always ready to help if there is an incident.”
If a suspected heart attack occurs on Poole Quay, a member of the public would phone 999 and ask for the ambulance service. The ambulance service can now inform the person the location of the nearest defibrillator machine and the key code to open the box. The apparatus can be carried to the victim, once opened it will turn on and talk you through the very simple process.
The machines, purchased by Soroptimist International Poole, are designed for community use, so that anyone is able to use them, even if not defibrillator trained.
Lynn Butterworth, president of Soroptimist International Poole (SI Poole), added: “I would like to thank everyone who donated to our appeal and that without the help and support of Poole Harbour Commissioners this would not have been possible. Anyone who visits the Quay will now have easy access to ‘SI Poole’s Public Defibrillators’ and this could save lives in the future.”