In a new boost for first-aid facilities, a public access defibrillator (PAD) was installed by Rother Responders in partnership with Tilling Green Residents Association outside Tilling Green newsagents on Sunday, October 23.
In the UK approximately 30,000 people each year suffer a cardiac arrest away from hospitals and are treated by emergency medical services. A patient’s chance of surviving a cardiac arrest decreases by around 14 per cent per minute without defibrillation. It is therefore vital that emergency medical treatment begins as soon as possible. If defibrillation is delivered promptly, survival rates as high as 75 per cent can be achieved. 
The defibrillator will be available for access at any time of the day or night and has been added to the PAD database held by South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust. This means that when a cardiac arrest 999 call is received in the ambulance control room, the operator will be aware of the nearest PAD site.
If the PAD is close enough to the location of the patient, the operator will ask someone to go to the PAD box and return to the patient with the defibrillator. Once back with the patient, the relative or bystander will be given instructions over the phone detailing how to turn on the machine and apply the defibrillator pads to the patient. The defibrillator itself will also give easy-to-follow instructions at each step.
Tilling Green Residents Association and Rother Responders would like to thank Tilling Green newsagents’ owner Roger Pankhurst for allowing them to site the PAD on the shop front, also to Rye Town Steward Nicky Ledger for installing it.
Photos: Louise Padovani