Congleton residents invited to learn life saving skills

The Congleton Lions and Congleton Partnership jointly organised a resuscitation event at Congleton Library on Tuesday 12 October with support from North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) Community Resuscitation Team.

Over 20 residents attended the free session, designed to teach participants the essential skills for using a defibrillator and to provide people with the confidence to know what to do in an emergency. The professional and enlightening presentation was delivered by Samantha Sellars and Janet Graham of the NWAS NHS Trust.

Sarah Stubbs, Manager at Congleton Cricket Club, who signed up said: “It feels good to know that if a situation arose where a defibrillator is needed, I’ve received training on how best to use it until the professionals arrive. Having the opportunity to handle a defib up close to see what it looks like and how it works and to practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the CPR dummy has given me the skills and confidence to help a person in the unfortunate event of cardiac arrest.

Sarah continues: “The overriding message from Samantha and Janet was; if you are presented with a situation where you need to carry out this procedure, remember that you can only do your best, that something is better than nothing until professional help arrives.”

In such a situation, the first thing NWAS advise people to do is to call 999 for ambulance/ paramedic support. The ambulance operator will tell you where the nearest live defibrillator is, for someone to fetch it. The NWAS urge everyone who holds a defibrillator to check it weekly to ensure that when it’s required it’s operational.

Congleton Lions and Congleton Partnership have recently installed two more 24/7 public access defibrillators, located on the ground floor of Congleton library, off the bus station and outside the public conveniences at Congleton Park. These are the third and fourth 24×7 accessible defibrillators to be installed by Congleton Lions and Congleton Partnership.

Congleton Lions President Pat Mart said “This is truly Congleton Lions working in partnership for the benefit of the local community with the Town Council and Congleton Partnership. We are delighted to be increasing the number of defibrillators and are busy working on future plans for more across the town.”

There are plans for a Wellbeing Fayre on 29 March 2022, Samantha and Janet will be invited to deliver a workshop so more Congleton residents can benefit from the invaluable life saving training.

Pictured - Samantha Sellars (NWAS), Sarah Stubbs (resident).