Team Blog

The Donate For Defib W-s-M Project started at the end of August 2023 and I was asked by Josh if I would like to be part of the project.

How could I say no 😊 to being part of such an important project?

My role has changed since the project started back at the end of August 2023, I am now Deputy Project Lead and support Josh in the day-to-day running of the project as well as being project secretary😊.

This is alongside working as a Nurse for an Independent Health Provider (Somerset Surgical Services) at our local hospital.

All members of the Donate For Defib W-s-M Project are volunteers and run this project alongside our day-to-day jobs

As a member of the Donate For Defib W-s-M Project team, we looked at doing a course that could benefit us when teaching CPR to members of the public.

In June 2024 I completed the Basic Life Support Instructor Course (BLSi) and in July 2024 the Anaphylaxis Essentials Course which is also run through the Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK), I also joined as a full member of the Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) for my continued professional development for my nursing role which I have to maintain to practise.

The Resuscitation Council BLSi Course gives you the tools to teach CPR to members of the public which raises awareness and understanding.

I found that in my nursing practice sitting through lectures was fine but working with a member of the team hands-on you learnt so much more, the same is true for any CPR training sessions we hold for members of the public, theory, demonstration and practice the sessions usually last an hour and a half.

Many people attending the sessions are unsure of what to do if someone suffers a cardiac arrest can they cause more harm and are very apprehensive about doing CPR and using a defibrillator.

 I tell people that I was in the same situation when my father suffered a cardiac arrest, he came home from walking the dog and collapsed in the hallway, I remember my mother screaming for me.

My father was only 50 and had always been fit, he worked as a foreman scaffolder for a big company so was up and down ladders every day.

I had only just come home for Mother’s Day if it had been the previous day I would have been at the hospital

I had only just started my nursing course but started CPR which I had only been taught the previous week, my brother and sister were very young but my brother phoned for an ambulance and my sister stayed with me.

That was the longest few minutes of my life waiting to hear the ambulance sirens!!

This was before publicly accessible defibrillators were available so CPR was the only thing that you could do and by doing CPR it saved my dad’s life and he went on to live to into his 80s.

The Donate for Defib project aims to teach members of the public CPR skills and how to use a defibrillator as you never know when you may need these skills.

 A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone without warning, whatever age, so as I tell members of the public when they attend our teaching sessions if you have the skills, you will be nervous anyone would be but you can help if you know CPR, other people if they are around will also help you

Remember the chain of survival.

Call 999, Begin CPR, get someone to get a defibrillator if there is one nearby, and do not leave the person, carry on with CPR and use the defibrillator if there is one until the ambulance team arrives.

If you don’t do anything then the outcome will be so different it could be a matter of whether that person survives or not.