The extra mile
March 2020
Going the extra mile for the communities we serve
Thank you to everyone who supported our Tesco Bags of Help projects in Tavistock, Lyme Regis and Corscombe & Halstock. As a result of the funding received from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme the South Western Ambulance Charity have been able to increase public access to defibrillators.
A defibrillator is a device used to give an electric shock to help restart a patient’s heart when they are in cardiac arrest. When someone has a cardiac arrest, the heart stops and blood is no longer being pumped around their body. The longer they go without emergency life support, the harder it is to restart their heart.
Once in cardiac arrest, for every minute that passes a person loses a further 10% chance of survival. If a defibrillator is readily available, patients are six times more likely to survive.
Lyme Regis
“Increased public access to defibrillators results in more people receiving a lifesaving shock as quickly as possible, giving them the best possible chance of survival in the event of a cardiac arrest.
We are grateful to the South Western Ambulance Charity and the Tesco Bags of Help scheme for providing two new units for the town which adds to the four other units we’ve installed.”
Rob James of Lyme Heartbeat
Tavistock
The Tavistock Community First Responder (CFR) group would like to thank Tesco shoppers in the local area for supporting them in the Tesco Bags of Help scheme. The Tavistock CFRs were awarded the maximum grant of £4,000 and have used the funding to install Defibrillators within Tavistock including; Tyre Marks, Market Inn and Trescas Childcare.
Corscombe & Halstock
The South Western Ambulance Charity recently received a grant from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme to purchase two new defibrillators for Corscombe (located on the High Street) and Halstock (located at the back of Halstock shop).
