New defibrillator installed in Northallerton thanks to charity and housing association

A grant has already helped pay for a defibrillator in Northallerton.

A housing association has given further help  to a local charity set up to install and raise awareness of life-saving defibrillators in Northallerton.

After becoming the first organisation to provide a grant, through its community development fund, to help Restarting Hearts in Northallerton purchase its first public access defibrillator, the property services team at Broadacres has installed this unit free of charge for the group.

And the association has pledged future support by volunteering to install more defibrillators as Restarting Hearts in Northallerton works towards its target of buying at least 15 units in its first 12 months.

Restarting Hearts founders and trustees Andrew Proud and Rod Winter recently joined staff from Broadacres at the site of the first defibrillator installation at the Bankhead Road shops in Northallerton, an area where Broadacres has a high concentration of homes.

Andrew, who suffered a heart attached in 2015 aged only 35, explained how the units will make a difference to local communities.

“In the event of a heart attack or cardiac arrest, Yorkshire Ambulance Service will usually only direct people to a publicly accessible defibrillator if they can reach it within a couple of minutes.

“By buying and installing more units across Northallerton we will significantly increase the chances of residents surviving a or cardiac arrest.

“We were very grateful when Broadacres provided our first grant and now they have installed our first unit for us  which has saved us money that can be used to put towards the purchase of further units.”

Gill Davies, Broadacres’ community involvement officer, said: “We have a panel of residents who determine the awarding of grants through our community development fund and when they considered the application from Restarting Hearts in Northallerton, it was a very easy decision to make.

“The defibrillators will make a significant difference in the communities where we have homes, which is exactly what the fund was set up to do.

“We were also pleased that our property services team was able to install the defibrillator and we have offered future support to Restarting Hearts in Northallerton.

For more information on Restarting Hearts in Northallerton please visit their Facebook page RestartingHeartsInNorthallerton

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