Plea to raise awareness about the location of defibrillators in Norwich city centre
A call has been made for more awareness about defibrillators.PHOTO: Nick Butcher - Credit: Nick Butcher
More needs to be done to publicise where potentially life-saving defibrillators are available in Norwich city centre - and more need to be installed, say city councillors.
And Liberal Democrat councillors have appealed for somebody to create an app, so people can check the city locations of the kit at a tap of their mobile phones.
Eaton Lib Dem councillors Caroline Ackroyd, Judith Lubbock and James Wright helped raise funds to get two defibrillators installed in Eaton - one outside Waitrose and one in Eaton Park.
But they are concerned over the lack of information about where the devices, which can be the difference between life and death when people have cardiac arrests, are in the city centre.
Mrs Ackroyd raised the issue at a recent meeting of Norwich city council, where she urged the council to consider doing more to raise awareness of defibrillators.
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She said: 'When someone collapses from sudden cardiac arrest it is vital that they get help as soon as possible to get their heart eating again.
'The window of opportunity is three to five minutes and often an ambulance cannot get there in that time. That's where a defibrillator can make all the difference. So it is vital that the public know where the life saving defies are situated.'
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Matthew Packer, Labour's cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: 'I will ask officers to liaise with our partners at the Business Improvement District and see how we can work together to raise awareness in the city centre of these important public assets.'
But Mrs Ackroyd hopes to go further and has appealed for somebody tech-minded to devise an app. Although maps are available online, of the apps which are available for the location of defibrillators, none of them have details for Norwich.
In the city centre, there are defibrillators in The Close, at Norwich Cathedral, in Debenhams, at Norwich City Hall, at the Environment Agency offices in Gilders Way and in Norwich Railway Station.
What do you think? Write to: Letters Editor, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich NR1 1RE or email eveningnewsletters@archant.co.uk
