A HEARTY hairdresser has installed her latest defibrillator in a South Oxfordshire town – but urged local businesses to help host two more which are ready to be installed.
Susan Handy, 50, has raised around £13,000 for the Heart of Wallingford fund, in a six-year campaign to install the life-saving devices.
Miss Handy, who runs Mary Handy Hair and Beauty on Wallingford High Street, wants more of the devices to be put up externally around the town.
This week members of the community converged on the bridge by the boat house for the latest installation.
Wheelers Electricians helped install the device free of charge, while representatives of the boat house, the market town co-ordinator and a big supporter of the Heart of Wallingford, Patsy Perrin, also joined the installation – along with the hairdressers’ dog, Mr Handy.
But Miss Handy, who has a nursing background, is urging local businesses to take on more external defibrillators.
She said: “We have got money for another two defibrillators but its difficult to get a place to house them.
“Let’s get together as a community and get these defibrillators up: I would rather have them up than the money sat in the bank.
“I view it as like a fire extinguisher – hopefully we never have to use them but we need them there to save lives.”
The money has been raised from donations from locals, and Miss Handy thanked a number of her regular customers who often donate to the Heart of Wallingford fund.
Her sister has installed some 13 devices in Thame – some of which have been used to help save three people.
Currently in Wallingford, there are devices at the Old Post Office, the sports park, Fir Tree school and two at a Wallingford secondary school.
Another defibrillator is expected to be installed at the Bull Croft shortly.
Miss Handy continued: “They are life saving devices – at least if you have them then the community is covered.”
Public access defibrillators, which provide instructions for their use, can be used to restart the heart of a person having a cardiac arrest.
A small electricity supply is needed to host the devices.
Published by the Oxford times
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/16340040.heart-of-wallingford-boathouse-joins-defibrillator-hosts/
