New homes, new defibrillator

Northamptonshire Rural Housing Association and Snowdon Homes funded the cost of a new defibrillator which has been installed on their new affordable homes scheme in Nassington, Northants.

The defibrillator is an addition to the network of defibrillators which have already been installed across the village by local charity Nassington Defibrillators.

The critical piece of medical equipment has been installed on a freestanding electrical supply and the minimal, but ongoing, electricity costs are paid for by Nassington Parish Council.

More defibrillators are needed in rural residential areas.

The average response time for an ambulance to reach someone in cardiac arrest should be under 7 minutes, however in rural areas this is often much longer.

A defibrillator delivers a shock which can restart someone’s heart after it stops beating (cardiac arrest). If this is done within a few minutes of the heart stopping, it improves the chances of survival.

Research by the NIHR found that defibrillators were more common in:

• urban areas (64% had at least 1 device) compared with rural areas, where just 36% had at least one device.
• places with fewer residents and more places of work. However, previous work has shown that most (80%) out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in residential areas.

Russell and Karen Hamilton from Nassington Defibrillators said:

“Midlands Rural Housing and Snowdon Homes have demonstrated a clear commitment to sharing our vision for a community in which a potentially life saving defibrillator is never more than around 100 metres from any home. When literally every second counts the inclusion of a defibrillator in the Fenn Close development not only maintains the integrity of our growing ‘Heart Safe Community’ but increases the chance of survival in the event of a cardiac arrest. Midlands Rural Housing and Snowdon Homes have shown the forward thinking we would like to see forming an integral part of all future housing and community development."