Winchelsea’s Public Access Defibrillators (PAD) is the tenth unit installed by local charity Rother Responders. A PAD is a device that delivers an electric shock to resuscitate a heart after cardiac arrest. The device is safe for the public to use because it detects the heart’s rhythm and will not deliver a shock unless one is needed. The UK Resuscitation Council recommends the location of a PAD wherever medical treatment is more than five minutes away. This means most of rural Rother. A patient’s chance of survival decreases by around 14% per minute without defibrillation following a cardiac arrest. Survival rates above 50% have been achieved in places that have PADs.
In Winchelsea, the PAD has been located in the car park behind the New Inn. It is stored in a security cabinet, the key to which is in a box with a combination lock mounted next under the cabinet. When a 999 call about a cardiac arrest is received in the South East Coast Ambulance control room, the operator will be aware of the PAD site and, if it is close enough to the location of the patient, will give the caller the code to the key box and direct them to its location.
The caller can then collect the defibrillator and, once back with the patient, apply the defibrillator pads, following audio instructions given by the machine itself or over the telephone by the control room operator. In addition, Rother Responders and Winchelsea Emergency Group (WEG) are organising a local course in Winchelsea to familiarise as many residents as possible with the use of the debrillator.
The installation of the PAD in Winchelsea was arranged by WEG, which is part of Rother District’s civil contingencies network. The defibrillator was sourced and funded by Rother Responders, while the security cabinet in which it is stored was funded by parish council tax-payers and fixed by members of WEG. Permission to instal the PAD was given by the New Inn’s tenant landlord Shaun Hobson. The PAD installation is protected by an alarm and by synthetic DNA marker provided by Winchelsea Neighbourhood Watch (this allows thieves to be traced for weeks after a theft or attempted theft) and is covered by the pub’s CCTV.
Rother Responders is a Community First Responder Scheme that was established in November 2012. It runs a team of volunteers who have been trained to respond to emergency calls through the 999 system in conjunction with South East Coast Ambulance service. They cover Rye and many nearby communities but need more volunteers to provide complete coverage. Anyone who is interested should contact them via their website www.rothercfr.co.uk.
Other PADs installed by Rother Responders are located at the Rye Sports Centre, Rye Tennis Club and the Rye Heritage Centre.