HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey East Scotland has donated a public access defibrillator (PAD) to St Joseph’s Church in Whitburn.
As part of a joint initiative with the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the firm is donating potentially life-saving PADs to communities around the UK to help people who suffer from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
During 2019, the BHF worked with Taylor Wimpey to train its employees in CPR skills and to provide every one of their UK building sites with a defibrillator. Taylor Wimpey is donating the defibrillators to local communities when their developments are completed.
While work has ended for now at Taylor Wimpey’s nearby Heartlands development, a defibrillator has been made available to St Joseph’s Church and it is located within an external cabinet off Raeburn Crescent within the grounds of the church.
Deryck Schendel, regional health and safety advisor for Taylor Wimpey in Scotland, said, “It’s so important to us that we give something back to the communities in which we’re building. Our partnership with the BHF is vitally important in helping to ensure that more defibrillators are available for people who might need them and we are proud to be able to make this equipment readily accessible in Whitburn.”
A defibrillator is a portable device that can be used to help restart the heart when someone suffers from a cardiac arrest and has stopped breathing.
Estelle Stephenson, survival programme lead at the British Heart Foundation, added, “More than 30,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital every year but less than one in ten survive. More people could be saved if everyone felt confident performing CPR and using a public access defibrillator.”
Deacon Ronnie, spokesman for St Joseph’s Church, said, “We can’t thank Taylor Wimpey and the BHF enough for this defibrillator. While we hope that we don’t have to use it, it’s fantastic to know that we can access a defibrillator in the event of an emergency and hopefully help to save someone’s life.”
David MacDonald, Whitburn and District Community Development Trust, added, “Thank you to Taylor Wimpey for working in partnership with the CDT to donate the public access defibrillator to St Joseph’s Church in Whitburn. This kind donation expands the network of life saving devices across the town which can help save someone’s life.”
