Haddenham is a very popular place in which to live, and significant steps are being taken to ensure that village residents stick around to enjoy the place as long as possible.
The strategy is to provide public access defibrillators at various locations around the village, so that if anyone is unfortunate enough to suffer a cardiac arrest, there is a much better chance that they will remain in the land of the living until trained medical help arrives.
In recent days, Heartbeat Haddenham campaigners have increased the availability of public access defibrillators by three, adding to the machine already installed on the wall of the community library.
One of the lead campaigners, Tony Warris, said: "Considering that the Heartbeat Haddenham campaign was only launched in March, less than five months ago, we have achieved remarkable progress in our aim to provide the village with these life-saving devices."
"Haddenham & Thame Parkway station now has a defibrillator, and this was a priority given the very high footfall that the station sees each day. We have now added to this by bringing the automated defibrillator owned by Abbeyfield care home on Churchway onto an outside wall of the building, so that this device is readily accessible to members of the public in the event of a relevant medical emergency."
"And most recently, another public access defibrillator has been installed on an outside wall of Haddenham Sports and Social Club, which is located near the tennis courts in the recreation ground on Woodways. So that brings the total so far to four machines, and we hope to add a fifth, located at Church End, sometime in the near future."
Defibrillators are used to treat individuals who have suffered a cardiac arrest – in other words, when the heart has stopped beating in its normal co-ordinated manner. Someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest will be unresponsive, not moving and not breathing normally. This situation may occur as a result of a heart attack, but other causes are possible.
Once two pads are applied to the subject's chest, the machine will determine automatically whether or not the individual is in cardiac arrest. If so, a shock will be applied in an attempt to re-start the heart.
More information can be found here
To know how to use an automated defibrillator, see here
The upper photograph shows active members of Heartbeat Haddenham campaign with parish council chairperson Margaret Aston at the newly installed defibrillator at the Sports and Social Club and, in the lower photograph, with Abbeyfield Manager, Lindsey McGibbon, by the wall mounted defibrillator at Stonehill House in Churchway.
