A VILLAGE hall committee has agreed to house a defibrillator at the building after a local fundraising campaign to buy the potentially lifesaving equipment.
The public access defibrillator has been fitted at Kirk Merrington Community Centre, on Front Street, Kirk Merrington.
The community centre has securely housed the device on the north facing wall so it is readily accessible and easily seen and will provide electricity to the unit and maintain the battery.
Spennymoor Town Councillor for Kirk Merrington, Di Thompson, who is on the community centre committee, said: “As one resident said ‘if it saves one life, it’s been worth it’.
“Ideally we need to get funding to continue every four miles to install defibrillators in rural areas.”
St John’s Church, particularly parishioner John Stephenson, raised the £1,500 needed for the kit - an iPAD SP1 which is promoted by the British Heart Foundation and widely used by the ambulance service.
It will be available to anyone to use on someone in cardiac arrest while waiting for a medic, comes with simple instructions and can increase survival rate by restoring the heart’s rhythm.
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