I have been browsing (sorry) back through some older posts on this blog. An earlier post from March 2023 was about the church's investigations into getting a public defibrillator (AED).
Things have progressed, so I think an update is needed. This is it, and it also corrects a faulty assumption I had made!
I am involved with two churches, and both were discussing getting an AED. I did the investigating for both, so could use experience gained in one for the benefit of the other.
One church had a donation of money specifically to acquire a defibrillator, so just needed to decide how to acquire it, and how to maintain it.
The other church had to decide those same things, but also raise the money. That church applied to a Department of Health and Social Care fund (I don't know if it is still open), and paid £750 towards the device. I don't know what criteria were used to decide who was successful. The £750 was raised through donations, sales from a church book stall, and donations from external groups that use the building.
Both churches now have a defibrillator, installed late last year or early this year. Here is what we have learned.
You need a qualified electrician to install the cabinet. The cabinet is permanently connected to the mains via a trip switch, but not to charge the battery (this was my mistaken assumption) but to keep the cabinet lit, and heated if the external temperature is low. The battery has a fixed lifespan (several years) and when it's flat, it gets replaced.
Then you need to register the device on The Circuit. The person registering it ends up as the contact, and if the code to unlock the cabinet is given out by the emergency services, that contact person gets an email to say the device "may have been used today". If the code is given out, the device is made unavailable on The Circuit, so the code is not given to anyone else.
We decided in both churches not to put the code on display or give it to church members or groups, or to external groups using the building. The reasons for that were 1) we would not know if the device had been used unless remembered to tell us, and 2) the emergency services would not know the device had been used and could give the code to someone who then could potentially not access the device.
Both churches decided who would get emails if the code was issued, and who would then check if the device is present, and if it is, whether it has been used. I am the Circuit contact and the checker for one of the churches and have had three emails since the start of the year.
The device has not actually been used on any of the three occasions. On receipt of the email, I check if the pads are present, and if they are, if they are still sealed, and if the "rescue kit" (razor, scissors, wipes) has been used. Pads and rescue kit would need replacing if not sealed, or of course if not present. I then test the device. If nothing needs replacing and all is working, I make the device available again on The Circuit.
For that church, I perform weekly checks on the device. The devices in both churches actually test themselves. The device in one church displays an error sign if there's something wrong, then we would need to read the manual or contact the supplier to find out what to do. Someone else keeps an eye on this.
The device in the church where I am the tester could give us a report if we had bought a particular software (we didn't) and had a way to connect to the device. (I need to check if the device will connect with the church wifi, which we installed after we had got the device). In that church, once a week I make the device run a test. I keep a note that I have done this, in a folder in the church office. When I test it, I also check the cabinet for damage, and check the power supply is working.
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