Burnham-On-Sea’s St Andrew’s Church and Burnham Rotary Club have teamed up to fund a new life-saving community defibrillator which has been installed at the south porch of the church this week.
Members of Burnham Rotary Club joined church members to learn how to use the new defibrillator, which is being hired from Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
The training session for 25 five people was led by Anna Smith, who works for the Somerset NHS defibrillator service.
She talked the group through the steps needed to use the equipment in an emergency. She reassured the group about how to give compressions and how to administer the defibrillator.
Vicar of Burnham, Revd Graham Witts, said: “It has taken quite some time to get the permissions to site the defibrillator and to arrange for its installation and today was the culmination of hard work by a lot of people.”
“We are grateful to Burnham Rotary Club for sharing in the funding for this vital community project.”
“Our machine will join the others in the town, in providing a rapid response to those who suffer a cardiac arrest, and where vital seconds count towards a successful outcome. The defibrillator comes with a recorded set of instructions as to how to use it.”
“We hope the community and holidaymakers alike will find this a helpful asset.”
