Mother's crusade for life-saving equipment
A woman who almost lost her son in a freak accident has called for as many people as possible to get to grips with defibrillators.
Carrie Owen’s son Toby choked on a rubber ball at their Shrewsbury home and turned blue, before bleeding from his nose and requiring more than 12 hours on oxygen supplies.
After an agonising night in hospital, Toby recovered and his parents Carrie and Rich were told he was extremely lucky to survive.
A former police officer, Carrie gave Toby CPR and attributes his survival partly to her first aid training.
Now she is passionate about improving access to defibrillators, backing an initiative by her employer Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing (STAR) to site 16 new machines throughout the county. An AED (automated external defibrillator) treats irregular heartbeats by delivering an electric shock, and although it would not have helped Toby, Carrie wants to make sure as many people as possible know how to use them.
Important
Carrie said: “We’ve just installed defibrillators for community use on the outside of all of our community rooms. It’s great because they will not just be available for people in STAR Housing, but the whole community, anybody walking past or nearby that needs one will have one. They will now be in the position to save somebody’s life which is incredibly important.
“As a company we’ve spent £20,000 purchasing the machines from Telford-based SP Services. These machines can seem so daunting and scary but they’re so user friendly and easy to use, so we wanted to get people in the know-how.
“The aim has been to give STAR Housing staff members the confidence to be able to use them and also train other people how to if they ever need to.” 10 per cent survival chances are increased to 70 per cent if a defibrillator is used.
“About a year ago I was given this project to take on, and it was important to me to make sure they were available to the whole community, not just behind a company locked door.
Proud
“It’s made me proud to be able to work within this company and make this happen.”
Chris Phillips is an NHS paramedic and works for SP Services, and he helped train STAR Housing staff in how to use the defibrillators. He said: “All the staff have engaged really well. Every single member of staff has said how confident they are now in knowing how to use the machines.
“They could be at home, at work or even on a holiday and they could potentially help someone.Telford is one of the poorest-covered areas for public access to defibrillators. That is something we are working with local councils to improve.”
The community rooms are in Bridgnorth, Highley, Broseley, Gobowen, St Martins, Oswestry, Much Wenlock, Shrewsbury and Albrighton.
