New Brierley Hill defibrillator marks 12-months since pair saved woman's life
A new publicly accessible defibrillator has been installed in Brierley Hill High Street, marking a year since a local duo saved a life in the town with CPR.
The defibrillator and lockable cabinet have been installed in the town’s high street near the entrance to the market – just over the road from the Moor Centre where local butcher, Gordon Tranter and a passing by student nurse, Olivia Hanson, gave CPR to a shopper last year.
The life-saving equipment has been installed thanks to support from Community Response Manager, Andy Jeynes for donating the equipment, organised by local councillor Adam Davies.
Also involved was local business Alan Warwick Butchers which donated the cabinet and carry case, and members of the public gave donations at a CPR training session last October, which will be used for spare batteries.
Gordon Tranter, the local butcher who helped save the woman's life last June, said: "There wasn’t a defibrillator in the town last June so me and Olivia just had to do our best with CPR and hope it was enough.
"Thankfully it was enough on that day and the lady survived, but we know having a defibrillator will give anyone in the same situation in the future an even better chance.
"Obviously the defibrillator won’t work alone, it stills needs someone to step forward and use it.
"I’d encourage anyone to just try, you could help save someone’s life. I’ll never forget that day for as long as I live."
Andy Jeynes added: “Gordon is surely an inspiration to us all. It is great to see the defibrillator in Brierley Hill and hopefully, it will never be needed however if it saves just one life then all the hard work has been worth it.
"I would like to say a huge thank you to Councillor Adam Davies for his determination and commitment in getting the support from local businesses to help with this life-saving local project"
In a cardiac arrest it is vital CPR is commenced and a defibrillator used to try and restart the heart, as every minute that passes by the chances of survival decrease by 10 per cent.
Brierley Hill councillor, Adam Davies, said: "It’s so fitting that we’re able to mark 12 months since Gordon and Olivia’s heroics with this new easily accessible defibrillator right in the heart of the town.
"I have to give a really big thank you to Andy from the ambulance service, Tony from Alan Warwick Butchers, Aaron from Approved Electrical Midlands, and the members of the public who donated at our training session last October.
"Without all of their support, this just wouldn’t have been possible.
"The defibrillator is registered on the national defibrillator network known as The Circuit, meaning anyone needing to access the cabinet just needs to call 999 and an operator will provide the access code."
