A NEW life-saving defibrillator has been installed at Belgrave Hall in Leicester, as part of the Heartshield initiative.

Heartshield was launched by Leicester City Council's public health team, East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and local heart charity the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT). Its aim is to map out the council's available defibrillators and fill in the gaps by installing new ones where needed.

As a result, just in the last year, 10 new defibrillators have been installed at council venues across the city, including Belgrave Hall. All of the defibrillators are available for public use 24 hours a day, whenever they are needed.

Every year in the UK, ambulance services attend more than 30,000 callouts to people who are in cardiac arrest (their heart has stopped beating). Currently, fewer than one in 10 of these people will survive. Early use of a defibrillator can make a huge difference to someone's chances of survival.

Cllr Vi Dempster, assistant city mayor responsible for public health, said: "Availability of public-access defibrillators and confidence in using them is vitally important to improving survival rates. We've made excellent progress, but there is always more to be done, which is why we're delighted to be working with the ambulance service and the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust on this.

"If you own a public building or a small business in Leicester, or any place where people gather, please consider installing a defibrillator to an external wall, so that it can be accessed easily at any time of the day or night. There are funding sources that can help with this. Together, we can help to make Leicester a heart-safe city."

The defibrillator at Belgrave Hall was funded by Leicester City Council's public health team and Government funding. In other areas of the city, ward councillors have used community grants to support installation.

Dr Laura French, consultant in public health at Leicester City Council, said: "By working together with communities, we aim to improve survival rates. As well as encouraging the installation of more defibs, it's important that the ones we already have in Leicester are registered on a national database called The Circuit, so that emergency services can direct people to the nearest defibrillator in the event of a cardiac arrest. We also encourage people to access free training so that they know how to use a defibrillator."

Dr Mike Ferguson from the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust said: "Out of hospital cardiac arrests can happen to anyone, of any age, at any time. Together with our communities, the Heartshield project will continue in 2025 to help spread the word about this important issue and get more defibs installed.

"Do you and the people you work with feel confident in how to give CPR if you were to see someone collapse? Would you feel confident using an automated defibrillator? If not, consider accessing some of the training freely available through us at JHMT, or through other sources such as EMAS. Being prepared is key to saving lives."

As well as providing free CPR and defibrillator training, the JHMT works hard to raise awareness of sudden, unexpected heart deaths (SADS), helps to provide community defibrillators and runs Inspire, a local grants scheme for inspirational young people in the city and county.

To find out more about the work of the Trust, apply for training and support, or to help out with the charity's work, visit the website at www.jhmt.org.uk

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Picture shows l-r Dr Mike Ferguson, Dr Laura French and Cllr Vi Dempster with the new defibrillator at Belgrave Hall.

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