Birchgrove Primary School have been asked by Welsh Hearts (The Heart Charity for Wales) whether we would consider housing a Defibrillator on our premises for access by the local community for use in times of emergencies.
We have discussed this matter with the School Governors, and feel that it would be a very useful thing to have in Birchgrove, and it would be accessible to everyone in the vicinity in times for emergencies.
We thought that the station could be positioned at the front of the school, which is accessible at all times.
The cost of the station and associated training is approximately £1000, We hope that local businesses, resident and parents will agree that this is a good idea for the community, however we need help fund raise to contribute to the cost.

Therefore, we thought that maybe if people would contribute, even if in a small way, this would help towards the overall cost and could provide vital medical help in an emergency, for the school children, the school staff, clients of local businesses and local residents.

What is a Defibrilator?
Prior to the advent and use of heart defibrillators, the survival rate from a sudden cardiac arrest was very poor. The only tools that rescuers and non-medical trained bystanders had was CPR. Today defibrillators are available and widely used in public buildings, homes, police cars and by all levels of trained medical personnel. Sudden cardiac arrest, or SCA, requires immediate treatment with a defibrillator. This device sends an electric shock to the heart. The electric shock may restore a normal rhythm to a heart that's stopped beating.To work well, defibrillation must be done within minutes of SCA. With every minute that passes, the chances of surviving SCA drop rapidly.Defibrillators today are small, lightweight, portable and have long batter life. They are fully automated uutilising technology that reads, interprets and shocks the patient if indicated, making them easy to use by anyone.